Saturday, July 2, 2005

Rhino's 4th Of July Blog THE QUOTES: "The Government of the United States is in no sense founded on the Christian religion." - - George Washington (in the Treaty of Tripoli) "This would be the best of all possible worlds if there were no religion in it." - - John Adams (in The Jefferson-Adams letters) "I do not find in Christianity one redeeming feature. It has made one half the world fools, the other half hypocrites." - - Thomas Jefferson IN MEMORANDUM: Chet Helms Passes -- Legendary S.F. Rock Music Producer http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/06/26/HELMS.TMP Luther Vandross, R&B Crooner, Is Dead at 54 http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/02/arts/music/02vandross.html?th&emc=th THE HISTORY: July 4th 1776 -- Philadelphia: The Liberty Bell rings. Not all it's sometimes cracked up to be. 1826 -- John Adams & Thomas Jefferson, the 2nd & 3rd presidents of the US, both die, ironically on the only birthday either claimed to celebrate: the 50th anniversary of the adoption of the U.S. Declaration of Independence. 1854 -- At an anti-slavery rally at Framingham, Massachusetts, William Lloyd Garrison, founder of the Anti-Slavery Society publicly burns a copy of the US Constitution with the cry, "So perish all compromises with tyranny!" On the outbreak of the American Civil War Garrison abandoned his previously held pacifist views and supported Abraham Lincoln and the Union Army. However, during the war, Garrison was critical of Lincoln for making the preservation of the union rather than the abolition of slavery his main objective. After the passing of the 13th Amendment in 1865, Garrison spent his last 14 years campaigning for women's suffrage, pacifism and temperance. 1966 -- LBJ signs the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) establishing the public's right to access government information. Ironically, the landmark legislation was not signed into law on that day for its historic significance, but because the ten-day period in which President Johnson had to sign the law had run out. As President Johnson‚s then press secretary Bill Moyers recounted: 'LBJ had to be dragged kicking and screaming to the signing ceremony. He hated the very idea of the Freedom of Information Act; hated the thought of journalists rummaging in government closets; hated them challenging the official view of reality. He dug in his heels and even threatened to pocket veto the bill after it reached the White House." THE SCOOP: Cooper Documents Reveal Karl Rove Source in Plame Case Editor & Publisher, July 01, 2005 Now that Time Inc. has turned over documents to federal court, presumably revealing who its reporter, Matt Cooper, identified as his source in the Valerie Plame/CIA case, speculation runs rampant on the name of that source, and what might happen to him or her. Tonight, on the syndicated McLaughlin Group political talk show, Lawrence O'Donnell, senior MSNBC political analyst, claimed to know that name--and it is, according to him, top White House mastermind Karl Rove. Here is the transcript of O'Donnell's remarks... http://www.mediainfo.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000972839 THE BLOG: John Conyers Blog The latest developments regarding the Downing Street Minutes and a way we can help leverage them. After a half million Americans signed the petition, the Washington Post gave the Downing Street Minutes front page coverage. http://conyersblog.us THE CARTOON: Rough Rider: John Bolton‰ by Marty Two Bulls, Indian Country Today http://www.indiancountry.com/pix/1096411122_large.jpg THE EVENT: Fourth of July Hemp Coalition 35th Anniversary Smoke-In Monday July 4th, 2005 - Washington DC http://www.smoke-in.org RHINO HERE: Having many Indian friends for many years, I've had a difficult time joining the one noted patriotism of what some call the celebration of the farce of July. If the USA had been living up to it's much bally-hooed legacy of freedom & liberty for ALL, in the years since 1776 when the liberty bell cracked, then The Rhino would be at the front of the pack singing the "Star Spangled Banner," but unfortunately, the Sweet Land of Liberty has not, and even more unfortunately, is not, living up to its professed ideals. Most Americans are unaware that for over 100 years, the religious ceremonies of all the Indigenous people within the borders of the US were outlawed. Those Indian people caught practicing their religious ways were punished, or worse. Many of those traditions were taken underground and therefore preserved by courageous ancestors of the Indian people who live in America today. One of those ceremonial traditions is the Sundance. From long before the 4th of July was celebrated, summertime in North America was the time for the Sundance. The Bottom Line article below offers a taste of the clarity and focus and commitment which contributes to this ancient offering of thanks, and yearning for peace. (o/)(o/)(o/) 12:04:20 PM    comment

RHINO'S BOTTOM LINE - Appreciation of a Grandmother: Beatrice Weasel Bear Appreciation of a Grandmother: Beatrice Weasel Bear Editors Report / Indian Country Today / June 30, 2005 Recent Sun Dance prayers in the Black Hills gathered the good minds of strong dancers, both men and women, to concentrate on the wish for less violence and less war - in our homes and in the world at large. Lakota, Mohawk and allies - in ceremonies correspondent to World Peace Prayer Day and as signaled by Arvol Looking Horse, Keeper of the Sacred White Buffalo Calf Woman Pipe - rose up at twilight of the Summer Solstice on June 21 for songs of spiritual renewal, offerings of thanksgiving and appreciation to the women. The day and cycle of creation opened and closed in its moment. A Sun Dance pipe, loaded along with the original pipe at Green Grass, was smoked by elders and Sun dancers in the Black Hills while Looking Horse gathered many other circles of people in the Plains, at Piedmont, S.D. Other years, he has prayed in Japan and the Middle East. A ceremony of the Oyate (the people) led by the men's societies, the Sun Dance of the Plains - and in particular this one, hosted by Oglala-Lakota tiospayes once again this year in the Black Hills - often flows from the authority and the certain knowledge of the grandmothers. In the Black Hills this June, the matriarch of a group of Oglala families - tiospayes of the Afraid Of Bear, American Horse and Red Cloud lineages of chiefs - called her sons and daughters, nephews, nieces, in-laws and all her relatives to pray and dance. Beatrice Weasel Bear, 79, danced again in the grueling sacrifice under the open sky, even though she had meant to retire from active dancing this year. In her moment of prayer, in a season of much close grief, she, too, intoned for world peace, for peace in the mind and hearts of men... READ THE REST AT: http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096411158 (o/)(o/)(o/) Rhino's Blog is the responsibility of Gary Rhine. Feedback & requests to be added or deleted from the list are encouraged. (rhino@kifaru.com) See The Latest Greatest Political Cartoons      While You Read Rhino's Blog 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 10:42:21 AM    comment

© Copyright 2005 Gary Rhine.