Monday, June 14, 2004

Monday Mornin' Briefing FEATURED ARTICLES - What Did Media Miss in Woodward Book? Editor & Publisher - Crossing the Red Line, By Bill McKibben, NY Review of Books, - 'Mad as Hell' Administration-Encouraged Corporate Greed May Rouse Consumers to Take Action        by Katrina vanden Heuvel, The Nation, - Ex-diplomats, military leaders oppose Bush, AP - BUSHIDO:THE WAY OF THE ARMCHAIR WARRIOR, by Evan Eisenberg, The New Yorker, QUOTE OF THE DAY "No 'healing', no apologies, no memorials, nothing can possibly compensate for the damage done & the pain inflicted....The only thing we can possibly do, twenty years too late, is to try and tell the truth." - - Eric Bergerud KNOW YOUR HISTORY - JUNE 14th 1777 --  The Stars & Stripes is adopted as the US flag. The first flag is made of hemp (i.e., marijuana) 1877 --  First Flag Day declared by US government (100th anniversary of the flag). Flags are important....difficult to have wars without them. 1943 --  US Supreme Court overturns a West Virginia mandatory school flag-salute law.  This is a victory for Jehovah's Witnesses who refuse to salute the flag. (West Virginia State Board Of Education V. Barnette, 319 U.S. 624; Argued March 11). This reversed a decision made in 1940, Minersville School District v. Gobitis, on the same issue in which the court said it was legal to force Jehovah's Witnesses to salute the flag. 1951 -- US Senator Joe Witch Hunt McCarthy attacks General George Marshall, author of the Marshall Plan, for "always & invariably serving the world policy of the Kremlin." Equally to blame, according to McCarthy, "in a conspiracy so immense as to dwarf any such previous venture in the history of man," was Marshall's "fast-rising protege," General Dwight David Eisenhower (future president). 1954 -- US President Eisenhower signs order adding words "under God" to the Pledge of Allegiance. Sticks it between "one nation" & "indivisible." 1968 -- Child-care expert Dr. Benjamin Spock & 3 others convicted of conspiring to counsel draft evasion. Target of political attacks & outright repression by the Nixon administration. Refused to support George McGovern (backed by most liberal antiwar activists) in '72, & ran as the candidate of the People's Party. Spock was indicted with the Reverend William Sloane Coffin for publishing "A Call to Resist Illegitimate Authority." The pamphlet declared the Vietnam War "unconstitutional & illegal," & promised to raise funds for draft resistance. The indictment also cited a demonstration eight months ago at the Justice Department, when 185 registration certificates & 172 classification notices were dumped in front of distressed officials. During sentencing, Judge Francis Ford declares the crimes were "in the nature of treason." But an appeals court overturns the convictions. RHINO HERE: Last week Bob Woodward told the Council on Foreign Relations, regarding all the press coverage on his recently released book, "Plan of Attack," that the media missed an important story, that there were US National intelligence assets spying on chief UN weapons inspector in Iraq, Hans Blix. What Did Media Miss in Woodward Book? Editor & Publisher http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000528521 The June 10 issue of NY Review of Books reviews 5 books on global warming, well worth reading. Here's a quote to wet your interest: "For more than three years now, day after day and week after week, a small circle of political appointees at the EPA, the Forest Service, the Interior Department and the Department of Agriculture have proceeded methodically to wreck the system of environmental oversight that dates back to the Nixon administration. Apart from their silence on global warming, they have overturned rule after regulation, largely ceased enforcement actions concerning pollution of the atmosphere and water, and reined in inspectors. Their work is not inspired by grand ideological vision---it's not like Bush's foreign policy, say, with its idea of America dominating the world. Instead it's institutionalized corruption: a steady payback to the logging, mining, corporate farming, fossil fuel, and other industries that contributed heavily to put Bush in power." Crossing the Red Line By Bill McKibben, NY Review of Books, June 10, 2004 http://www.nybooks.com/articles/17179 'Mad as Hell' Administration-Encouraged Corporate Greed May Rouse Consumers to Take Action by Katrina vanden Heuvel, The Nation, June 11, 2004 There's a stealth issue in this presidential campaign that could go far in determining the election results. I'm talking about the rising gas, phone, electricity, milk and cable prices that are damaging millions of hard-working families struggling to live in George W. Bush's America. In addition to paying $2-plus per gallon prices at the pump, consumers are getting squeezed at the supermarket--shelling out as much as $4 per gallon for milk. Other staples are going through the roof. ... John Kerry ought to step up and confront the Baby Bells, cable companies and energy conglomerates. His recent statement against media consolidation suggests Kerry understands this is an issue that resonates with voters across the political spectrum. He could side with consumers who are under siege by an Administration that never met a regulation it didn't want to destroy.  But politicians, including Kerry, are lagging behind and failing to seize the opportunity to protect people's pocketbooks. In the meantime, we may see corporate greed and Administration-sanctioned gouging rousing consumers to take action. To paraphrase that great Paddy Chayevsky film Network, we may be at a moment when the American people are mad as hell and not going to take it anymore. MORE: http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0611-11.htm A  group of 20 ambassadors, appointed by both Democratic & Republican presidents, other former State Department officials and military leaders whose careers span three decades will announce their campaign this week called, "Diplomats and Military Commanders for Change,"  which urges Americans to vote against Bush. Ex-diplomats, military leaders oppose Bush AP,  Sunday, June 13, 2004 Angered by Bush administration policies they contend endanger national security, 26 retired U.S. diplomats and military officers are urging Americans to vote President Bush out of office in November. The group, which calls itself Diplomats and Military Commanders for Change, does not explicitly endorse Democrat John Kerry for president in its campaign, which will start officially Wednesday at a Washington news conference... MORE: http://www.sacbee.com/24hour/politics/story/1431803p-8773531c.html Today's RHINO'S BOTTOM LINE is by historian Evan Eisenberg, author of  "The Ecology of Eden; An Inquiry into the Dream of Paradise and a New Vision of Our Role in Nature."  He offers important insights into the psyche of the shrub. "SEND THIS ARTICLE TO A REPUBLICAN!" 8:00:45 AM    comment

RHINO'S BOTTOM LINE - Bushido: The Way Of The Armchair Warrior BUSHIDO:THE WAY OF THE ARMCHAIR WARRIOR by Evan Eisenberg, The New Yorker, June 7, 2004 Knowledge is not important. The armchair warrior strives to attain a state beyond knowledge, a state of deep, non-knowing connection to the universe: in particular, to that portion of the universe which is rich, powerful, or related to him by blood. The unenlightened speak of "failures of intelligence." But the armchair warrior knows that "intelligence"-the effort of the mind to observe facts, apply reason, and reach conclusions about what is true and what ought to be done-is a delusion, making the mind turn in circles like an ass hitched to a mill. The armchair warrior feels in his hara, or gut, what ought to be done. He is like a warhorse that races into battle, pulling behind him the chariot of logic and evidence. When the people see the magnificent heedlessness of his charge, they cannot help but be carried along. The warrior spirit resides in the hara. It is this spirit, and not any deed, that is the mark of the true warrior. Thus, a man who has avoided military service may be a greater and braver warrior than a man who has served his country in battle, sustained grave wounds, performed "heroic" deeds, and been honored with clanking, showy medals pinned to his garment... MORE: http://www.newyorker.com/shouts/content/ "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 6:43:10 AM    comment

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