Wednesday, August 18, 2004

FEATURED ARTICLES - Afghan Vote Threatens Bush's Credibility, Toronto Star - Special Report - Venezuela, UK Guardian       Venezuela votes for Chávez amid cries of foul play         Oil price dips after fresh record - Dick Cheney, Hugo Chavez and Bill Clinton's Band, by Greg Palast QUOTE OF THE DAY "Some facts just can't be smothered in propaganda ink. While George Bush can appoint the government of Iraq and call it "sovereign," the government of Venezuela is appointed by its people. And the fact is that most people in this slum-choked land don't drive Jaguars or have their hair tinted in Miami. Most look in the mirror and see someone "negro e indio," as dark as their President Hugo." - - Greg Palast  (From today's BOTTOM LINE) KNOW YOUR HISTORY - August 18TH 1977 -- South Africa: Steve Biko, a leading student apartheid resister, is arrested in Port Elizabeth. He is later murdered while in custody. 1996 -- The U.S. prison population rises to nearly 1.6 million inmates in 1995, double the number of a decade ago, the Justice Department said.' (Reuters, Washington, DC). The US, by 1999, has the largest per capita prison population in the world, along with Russia. In 2003, America's inmate population grew by 2.9 %, to almost 2.1 million people, with one of every 75 men living in prison or jail. RHINO HERE: Democratic hopefuls (& Rhino's hopeful too) Senators Kerry & Edwards recently wound up an 8,000 mile, 22 state campaign tour in Portland, Oregon with a rally that drew 50.000 supporters. Details at: http://gallery.johnkerry.com/viewcategory.aspx?category=Believe+In+America+Tour Meanwhile the true struggle for democracy won a non-violent battle last weekend in Venezuela with the California / Governator like recall referendum being voted down handily by a record number of Venezuelan voters.  Today's blog offers both coverage, via the UK Guardian, & commentary, by Greg Palast, whose reports from Venezuela for BBC Television's Newsnight & the UK Guardian papers earned a  2002 "Project Censored" Award.  Palast's reports on Venezuela are posted at: http://www.GregPalast.com. And check out today's BOTTOM LINE entitled  "Dick Cheney, Hugo Chavez and Bill Clinton's Band." But what of the upcoming elections in the shrub gang's "success story" of Afghanistan?   Here's a Toronto Star piece looking at potential problems there for democracy, & for shrub's re-election hopes. Afghan Vote Threatens Bush's Credibility by Carol Harrington and Jared Ferrie, Toronto Star, August 17, 2004 KABUL-With evidence mounting of plans for widespread vote-rigging in Afghanistan's upcoming elections, U.S. experts say the controversy could emerge as a serious liability for U.S. President George W. Bush's re-election campaign. After voter registration centers closed across Afghanistan on the weekend, election officials acknowledged the number of voting cards issued far exceeded the estimated number of eligible voters - and that the illegal practice of multiple registrations is widespread...   ...For months, Bush has staked his claims on a successful democratic Afghanistan, saying it would serve as an example of how America can bring democracy, and free and fair elections to the developing world... MORE: http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0817-01.htm UK Guardian Special Report - Venezuela http://www.guardian.co.uk/venezuela/0,12716,857933,00.html Venezuela votes for Chávez amid cries of foul play Dan Glaister in Caracas and Ashley Seager, The Guardian, August 17, 2004 The Venezuelan president, Hugo Chávez, yesterday proclaimed a convincing victory over his opponents in a vote that many hope will end two years of turmoil and which helped bring down the price of oil from record highs.  Mr Chávez, wiping tears from his face, told a cheering mass of supporters: "Starting today Venezuela enters a new phase. Venezuela has changed for ever. There is no going back."  Opposition leaders immediately denounced the victory as electoral fraud and called on their supporters to take to the streets in protest.  In the recall referendum to determine whether Mr Chávez should be allowed to serve the remainder of his term until 2006, and with 94.4% of the vote counted, the No campaign against the recall won 58.25% of the vote, while the Yes campaign, run by a broad coalition of opposition parties, could only muster 41.74%. MORE: http://www.guardian.co.uk/venezuela/story/0,12716,1284671,00.html Oil price dips after fresh record Ashley Seager and Mark Milner, The Guardian, August 17, 2004 Oil prices set a fresh record early yesterday of close to $47 a barrel before falling back on relief that a referendum victory for President Hugo Chávez in Venezuela would be likely to ensure that crude keeps flowing from the world's fifth largest producer.  The poll result was sufficient to boost stock markets around the world which were relieved that oil prices, which had set a record in 11 of the past 12 trading days, had stopped rising, for now at least... MORE: http://www.guardian.co.uk/venezuela/story/0,12716,1284699,00.html 7:24:06 AM    comment

RHINO'S BOTTOM LINE - Dick Cheney, Hugo Chavez and Bill Clinton's Band Dick Cheney, Hugo Chavez and Bill Clinton's Band Why Venezuela has Voted Again for Their 'Negro e Indio' President by Greg Palast, CommonDreams.org,  August 16, 2004 There's so much BS and baloney thrown around about Venezuela that I may be violating some rule of US journalism by providing some facts. Let's begin with this: 77% of Venezuela's farmland is owned by 3% of the population, the 'hacendados.'  I met one of these farmlords in Caracas at an anti-Chavez protest march. Oddest demonstration I've ever seen: frosted blondes in high heels clutching designer bags, screeching, "Chavez - dic-ta-dor!" The plantation owner griped about the "socialismo" of Chavez, then jumped into his Jaguar convertible. That week, Chavez himself handed me a copy of the "socialist" manifesto that so rattled the man in the Jag. It was a new law passed by Venezuela's Congress which gave land to the landless. The Chavez law transferred only fields from the giant haciendas which had been left unused and abandoned.  This land reform, by the way, was promoted to Venezuela in the 1960s by that Lefty radical, John F. Kennedy. Venezuela's dictator of the time agreed to hand out land, but forgot to give peasants title to their property.  But Chavez won't forget, because the mirror reminds him. What the affable president sees in his reflection, beyond the ribbons of office, is a "negro e indio" -- a "Black and Indian" man, dark as a cola nut, same as the landless and, until now, the hopeless. For the first time in Venezuela's history, the 80% Black-Indian population elected a man with skin darker than the man in the Jaguar.  So why, with a huge majority of the electorate behind him, twice in elections and today in a referendum, is Hugo Chavez in hot water with our democracy-promoting White House? Maybe it's the oil. Lots of it... READ IT ALL AT: http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0816-03.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. Tell a friend about Rhino's Blog 6:41:49 AM    comment

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