FEATURED ARTICLES
- Rebiya Kadeer Released From Chinese Jail!, Amnesty International
- 59 American Ex-Diplomats Oppose Bolton, Associated Press
- Don't Give the UN the Finger, The Nation's Activist Weblog
- BAGHDAD COUP D'ETAT FOR BIG OIL, Harper's Magazine
- RHINO'S BOTTOM LINE: Gore Vidal on War For Oil, Politics, Free Elections & The Late Great US Constitution, by Steve Perry, Minneapolis City Pages, 3/29/05
QUOTE OF THE DAY:
"There was a time, not that long ago, when moderate Israelis downplayed the rise of religious extremists. But no more: extremists have already killed one prime minister, and everyone realizes that Ariel Sharon is at risk. America isn't yet a place where liberal politicians, and even conservatives who aren't sufficiently hard-line, fear assassination. But unless moderates take a stand against the growing power of domestic extremists, it can happen here."
- - Paul Krugman ( http://tinyurl.com/4we4y )
KNOW YOUR HISTORY:
March 18th
1855 -- Bands of proslavery "Ruffians" from Missouri cross the Kansas border to intimidate "free-soil" voters, & to cast illegal ballots themselves. The result: the election of legislators that strongly supported slavery in the territory.
1870 -- Black men win the right to vote in the U.S.
Poll taxes & ridiculous literacy tests to subvert the 15th
Amendment of
the US Constitution soon follow, enacted by the same great patriots who
wave flags, gush about a free democratic society & the holy Constitution.
1981 -- In response to John
Hinckley, Jr.'s bullet lodging
in President Ronnie Raygun but sparing his life, US Secretary of State
Alexander
Haig declares he has assumed (illegally) Acting control of
the US. The Bit Part suits him, but he needs a new scriptwriter.
RHINO SEZ:
Anyone who thinks writing letters & faxes and emails and making phone calls
doesn't make a difference should read about Rebiya Kadeer who was just released
from a Chinese prison after thousands of letters were written in her behalf.
If you're not an Amnesty International "Freedom Writer," Rhino sez, "You ought
to be." Sign up here:
http://www.amnestyusa.org/freedomwriters/index.html
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Rebiya Kadeer Released From Chinese Jail!
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is happy to report that Rebiya Kadeer was released from prison on March 17, 2005. Rebiya Kadeer is a successful businesswoman who was jailed for her efforts to publicize discrimination and human rights violations against China's Uighur minority.
Read more about Rebiya Kadeer at: http://www.amnestyusa.org/action/special/kadeer.html
More on AI's Prisoner of Conscience Special Focus cases at:
http://www.amnestyusa.org/prisoners_of_conscience/index.html
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59 American Ex-Diplomats Oppose Bolton
by Barry Schweid, Associated Press, 3/29/05
Challenging the White House, 59 former American diplomats are urging the Senate to reject John R. Bolton's nomination to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. "He is the wrong man for this position," they said in a letter to Sen. Richard Lugar, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The Indiana Republican has scheduled hearings on Bolton's nomination for April 7.
"We urge you to reject that nomination," the former diplomats said in a letter obtained by The Associated Press and dated Tuesday. The ex-diplomats have served in both Democratic and Republican administrations, some for long terms and others briefly...
MORE AT: http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0329-06.htm
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Don't Give the UN the Finger
Undersecretary of State for Arms Control John Bolton is a poor choice
to serve as the US Ambassador to the United Nations. From his post at the
State Department, he oversaw the administration‚s failed non-proliferation
policy, was an outspoken proponent of the principle of pre-emptive war
and was a major opponent of the International Criminal Court, which many
in the UN see as the only realistic solution to the ongoing genocide in
Sudan. Moreover, Bolton is an inexperienced diplomat with a history of
belligerent opposition to the United Nations itself. Urge your senators
to oppose the nomination of John Bolton for Ambassador to the UN.
DO IT QUICK & EASY AT: http://capwiz.com/thenation/mail/oneclick_compose/?alertid=7176191
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BAGHDAD COUP D'ETAT FOR BIG OIL
Harper's Magazine, March 25, 2005
Some conspiracy nuts believe the Bush Administration had a secret plan to control Iraq's oil. In fact, there were TWO plans. In a joint investigation with BBC Television Newsnight, Harper's Magazine has uncovered a hidden battle over Iraq's oil. It began right after Mr. Bush took office - with a previously unreported plot to invade Iraq.
From the exclusive Harper's report by Greg Palast:
Within weeks of the first inaugural, prominent Iraqi expatriates -- many with ties to U.S. industry -- were invited to secret discussions directed by Pamela Quanrud, National Security Council, now at the State Department. "It quickly became an oil group," one participant, Falah Aljibury. Aljibury is an advisor to Amerada Hess' oil trading arm and Goldman Sachs. "The petroleum industry, the chemical industry, the banking industry -- they'd hoped that Iraq would go for a revolution like in the past and government was shut down for two or three days," Aljibury told me. On this plan, Hussein would simply have been replaced by some former Baathist general.
However, by February 2003, a hundred-page blue-print for the occupied nation, favored by neo-cons, had been enshrined as official policy. "Moving the Iraqi Economy from Recovery to Sustainable Growth" generally embodied the principles for postwar Iraq favored by Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz and the Iran-Contra figure, now Deputy National Security Advisor, Elliott Abrams. The blue-print mapped out a radical makeover of Iraq as a free-market Xanadu including, on page 73, the sell-off of the nation's crown jewels: "privatization∑ [of] the oil and supporting industries."...
READ MORE AT: http://www.gregpalast.com/detail.cfm?artid=418&row=1
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