The DISH
Unbossed and unbought news and information you can use
Vol. 11 Issue 1…Dedicated to the Dialogue on Race…January 4, 2008
Ode to the White Blood Cell
By Daisy and Jessica
Mash
Welcome, greetings little cell!
What a wondrous sight you be.
But please go forth and multiply
For more we need to
see.
You have a busy time ahead,
To fight the nasty stuff.
So just you go and find some mates
'Cos one ain't quite
enough!
Don your armour, raise your sword,
And into battle ride.
Show not faint heart nor weak intent
'Cos we're all on
your side!
And then, victorious may you rise
In a host who's fit and strong.
Then send him out into the world,
He's been abed for
far too long!
He just wants healthy bits and bobs,
His arms, his legs, his hooter.
So he can get right outta here.
And ride upon his
scooter!!!
Sir Hans Adolf Krebs
(1900-1981)
The son of an ear, nose, and throat specialist, Georg Krebs and his wife Alma,
Hans Adolf Krebs was born on August 25, 1900 in Hildesheim, Germany. Krebs
received his early schooling in Hildesheim. From 1818 to 1923, he studied
medicine at the University of Göttingen and the University of Freiburg. In
1925, Krebs graduated with a PhD from the University of Hamburg.
After studying chemistry for a year at the Third Medical Clinic of the
University of Berlin, Krebs was appointed assistant to Professor Otto Warburg
at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Biology at Berlin-Dahlem. Krebs remained at
the Wilhelm Institute until 1930, when he joined the staff at the Municipal
Hospital at Altona and later the Medical Clinic of the University of
Freiburg-im-Breisgau.
When the German National Socialist Government terminated his appointment in
1933, Krebs, a Jew, went to work at the School of Biochemistry at Cambridge
University in England, where he held a Rockefeller Studentship until 1934. In
1935, Dr. Krebs accepted an appointment at the University of Sheffield as a
lecturer in pharmacology. Three years later, he was appointed head of
Sheffield's Biochemistry Department. In 1954, Dr. Krebs was appointed Whitley
Professor of Biochemistry in the University of Oxford, a position he held until
his retirement in 1967.
Krebs' research, which is
important in the study and treatment of cancer, centered around cellular
metabolism. In 1932, he identified the urea cycle, "whereby amino acids
(the constituents of proteins eliminate their nitrogen in the form of urea,
which is excreted in urine." Dr. Krebs' most famous research for which he
and Fritz Lipmann shared the 1953 Nobel Prize for physiology or medicine is his
1937 identification of the citric acid cycle. Commonly called the Krebs cycle,
his work identified the complex chemical breakdown of foodstuffs into energy at
the cellular level.
Elected a Royal Society of London
fellow (1947), he received its Royal Medal in 1954. In 1958, he received the
Gold Medal of the Netherlands Society for Physics, Medical Science and Surgery.
Knighted in 1958, Sir Krebs holds honorary degrees from a number of
universities, including Chicago, Paris, Glasgow, London, Sheffield and
Jerusalem.
Krebs married Margaret Fieldhouse
in 1938; the couple had three children. Sir Hans Adolf Krebs died on November
22, 1981. (Sources: www.answers.com/, http://nobelprize.org/ and http://en.wikipedia.org/)
Update on Grady
By John Burl Smith
Healthcare has become a multi-trillion dollar business in the United States
(US). Drug companies, business speculators and politicians are licking their
chops, preparing for a feeding frenzy as the US healthcare strategy evolves
into drug maintenance regimes. Healthy living and preventive care are viewed as
low-tech and unprofitable. Caught in the middle of this tug-of-war for healthcare
dollars are the poor, indigent and uninsured who must rely on public hospitals
like Grady Memorial in Atlanta.
Currently, the business community, governor, local medical schools and
politicians fighting to privatize Grady say it is a done deal. This scam is
presented as an effort to take politics out of Grady's administration, but the
parties clamoring to take control of Grady's services, contracting and property
could have stepped up and offered assistance years ago. Instead, they stayed
behind the scenes and withheld vital assistance/funds until Grady was on life
support. Now, they are stepping in, as though they just discovered a wonder
drug that will resuscitate a patient they have diagnosed as terminal. However,
they will only administer the drug after the family signs the farm over to
them. The problem is no one knows whether the drug actually works. In similar
situations where this drug has been tried, the disease was cured but the
patient died.
The Grady Coalition, a cadre of community activists, opposes the plan and the
process engineered by the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, a process it calls a
"pea-and-shell" game. According to the Coalition, the community has
been victimized by a "smoke-filled back room of wheeler dealers."
Pulling strings, these movers and shakers have shut the public out of meetings
while they decided the future of healthcare in Atlanta. Once Grady was chopped
up among these so-called community leaders, they came out and told the people
what they had to accept. Throughout this process, Atlanta Mayor Shirley
Franklin has been silent!
This process has violated the State of Georgia's open records and open meetings
laws. The Chamber of Commerce's advisory panel, the Grady Hospital Authority
and Emory University have refused to release information requested by community
groups. These requests sought answers to questions, such as the names of the
companies represented on the advisory committee, possible conflicts of interest
of embedded representatives of businesses on the advisory committee, disclosure
of the information contained in Grady's accreditation audit and the
circumstances surrounding the fraud conviction of former State Senator Charley
Walker.
Those working to privatize Grady are sweeping this dirt under the rug, while
claiming to act in the public's interest. Unconvinced of the "good
intentions" of those involved in the shady deal to save Grady and their
promise not to change its mission of serving the poor, indigent and uninsured,
members of the Grady Coalition are discussing legal actions. Their plan is to
seek an injunction to stop the privatization process because of repeated
violations of the law and the hidden agendas of those involved in ongoing
negotiations. Chioke Perry of the Atlanta Transit Riders Union said of the
injunction, "I suggest we request assistance from Attorney Warren
Ballentine, 'The People's Attorney,' or one of his associates."
Atlanta-area residents, the principle stakeholders in this struggle, need to
present this issue symbolically as a microcosm of the plight of the poor,
indigent and uninsured across America. Such a high profile case will draw
attention to similar situations that reflect the lack of access to healthcare
in the world's richest nation. Public hospitals are being closed and privatized
all across the country. The lack of access to quality healthcare for the poor,
indigent and uninsured is a national disgrace. Grady Hospital is ground zero in
this fight and those seeking to make billions of dollars for the private sector
from healthcare are throwing millions of dollars into this fight.
Just a few are waging this desperate battle against incredible odds. We need
your support. If there are any legal minds and lawyers who believe in service
to the community out there, we need your help! We are asking everyone to call
the Atlanta Chamber (404) 880-9000 or email samwilliams@macoc.com, contact the
Fulton-DeKalb Hospital Authority 404-616-6813, Governor Sonny Perdue
404-656-1776, HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson 202-708-1112, Georgia Senators
Saxby Chambliss 202-224-3521 and Johnny Isaakson 202-224-3643, Georgia US
Representatives John Lewis 202-225-3801, David Scott 202-225-2939 and Hank
Johnson 202- 225-1605 and demand that Grady be allowed to continue its historic
mission as a public hospital.
The Idea of a Black President
By Mumia Abu-Jamal
For much of the US populace, the
very idea of a Black president is one so new, so novel, that it forces many
people to think of it as if it is barely possible; as if it is the stuff of
fiction, not fact.
Fiction has indeed been the realm of this idea, as in movies, and television
series, actors have played the part, but that, of course, is on TV.
Of course, time will tell if that is more than imagination, but for millions of
people who share this vast land space we call North America, the idea is
neither new nor ground-breaking.
That's because there are some 100
million people living in Mexico, and that country had a Black president (albeit
briefly) --some 173 years ago.
It was during their war for independence from Spain, when a warrior emerged, a
Black Indian named Vicente Guerrero.
In his first battle, he was commissioned a Captain. As the independence war
raged on, many revolutionaries were either killed, or captured. Guerrero fought
on, leading some 2,000 men into the Sierra Madre Mountains to continue the
fight.
By 1821, the Mexicans were
prevailing over the Spanish, and Guerrero was hailed as an incorruptible
independence fighter. In 1829 he became President of Mexico, and as scholar
William Loren Katz writes in his 1986 book, Black Indians: He began a program
of far-reaching reforms, abolishing the death penalty, and starting
construction of schools and libraries for the poor. He ended slavery in Mexico.
Yet, because of his skin color, lack of education, and country manner, he was
held in contempt by the upper classes in Mexico City. This president who had,
according to US historian M.H. Bancroft, "a gentleness and magnetism that
inspired love among his adherents." was still "a triple-blooded
outsider." Black historian J. A. Rogers summarized Guerrero's striking
accomplishments by calling him 'the George Washington and Abraham Lincoln of
Mexico."[p.48]
Guerrero, who in his youth was an
illiterate mule driver, once bitten by the bug of Mexican independence, rose to
the highest office in the land.
He learned to read when he was about 40, and helped craft the Mexican
Constitution, of which he wrote the following provision: "All inhabitants
whether white, African, or Indian, are qualified to hold office." He wrote
this in /1824/, over 30 years before the US Supreme Court's infamous Dred Scott
decision, which announced, emphatically, that"...a black man has no rights
that a white man is bound to respect." and that black people weren't, /and
could never be/ citizens of the US.
In that era of revolution and
social transformation, a Black man became president of the second largest
country in North America. Today, 178 years later, we still wonder if such a
thing is possible. What does that say about the US?
Black People Thinking out Loud
By Nadra Enzi
"Being black is like being James
Bond... without the tuxedo... or the gadgets- or sometimes... even a job! The
next time somebody says, save the whales, say, save the black males!"
The big joke about brothers and the police is: If the system is as racist as we
always say it is, why do things to help it lock you up?
Check it! As a Black man, I know police watch me more and respect my rights
less- so guess what? I don't
use or carry anything that can result in an arrest. Translation: No weed; no
crack; no "X" (Ecstasy pills), etc. I don't hang at hot spots where
certain activities go down.
Suggestion: If you partake in the
use of banned drugs, you might want to do so in your home, where it's least
likely you'll get locked up. This isn't an endorsement, just some brotherly
advice.
I have a gun license, so they can't get me for unlawful possession of a weapon.
Hint: Brothers who like to "hold heat" (carry concealed guns on their
persons) need to get licenses to do so where it's legal. Stronger Hint: Get
caught with guns and drugs, especially as a convicted felon, and it's bye-bye
for at least five years in most places.
It's not about running to the White Man or anyone else to get yourself
straight... it is about staying ahead of traps laid out to chain, cage, and
control ( probation/parole) more and more of us in more and more ways.
Obviously, keeping clean is no guarantee you won't get stopped... or even set
up. Nah, this is some brotherly advice about playing the crime game to win...
instead of getting played! The only way to play the crime game is: don't do
crime!
Being clean means they have to work overtime to put you where you don't want to
go! Play the crime game as winners not beginners. Make them work overtime to
stop your grind. Stay clean; don't let them kill your dream. Play it to win
Black men; play it to win. Nothing in my pockets, nothing in my ride, step back
Five-O! Go back and hide!
About me: 41 year-old Savannah, Georgia
resident, Enzi is busy trying to realize his potential and help others do the
same. Enzi's fields of interest include self-development, security consulting;
politics, poetry and popular music. His Black Out: Black People Thinking Out
Loud Tour provides audiences with a mix of humor, information and inspiration.
For more, see www.myspace.com/nadrasw1.
Contact Enzi at 912-412-3806 or nadrasws@yahoo.com.
Disgruntled wants to know: Oddly, on the
day a C-Span Washington Journal viewer called the black host the "n"
word and hung up, a half-white black man, US Senator Barrack Obama (D-IL) made
history by winning the Iowa caucus. This was odd because, as the n-word caller
shows, the US has not experienced any great catharsis that renders race
insignificant as a factor in anything, especially the election of someone to
lead this nation. Hence, one cannot fault those of us who think something stinks
in Denmark. Call us paranoid, obsessed or whatever, but it just did not sound
sincere, all those white former Republicans singing the praises of Obama. The
whole thing sounds as if there is someone, a Karl-Rove-type, behind the scenes
pulling strings like a mad magician. Take, for instance, the unusual number of
first time Iowa caucus participants, not because they were first time voters or
new to the state; they were 'former' Republicans crossing over to vote in the
Democratic Party caucus, rather than participate in the GOP straw poll. If Iowa
determines the party's nominee and if enough Republican voters cross over, then
the GOP determines the Democratic Party nominee, the one least likely to win in
November. Could this be the reason George W. Bush is so confident the GOP will
retain control of the White House?
Disgruntled Says: US capitalism at its worst is a cancer eroding the assets and equity of unsuspecting investors. Banks, brokers and insurance companies profitably employed Enron-like financing pyramid schemes before the housing bubble burst. Pyramids and efforts to hide a company's financial health are fundamentally dishonest and illegal. If duped investors cannot sue these crooks to recoup loses and regulators are not investigating and pursuing prosecution, then these criminals escape intact with their ill-gotten cash. Richer than ever, they are free to engage in some other nefarious endeavor. No wonder so many people are discouraged and downright pessimistic about the nation's economic outlook. The country's law enforcement doggedly pursues petty criminals while allowing robber barons free reign when there is no difference between their thievery and the acts of desperate men that rob the neighborhood 7-Eleven. White collar criminals just ply their illegal trade without a Saturday night special or other weapon.
Mailbox: E-mails, Faxes and Telephone Calls
Email www.wsws.org...U.S.
Mayors' Report: Hunger and Homelessness Intensify In U.S. Cities...By Debra Watson...The
number of people hungry and homeless in U.S. cities rose dramatically again in
2007, according to the annual report on hunger and homelessness from the U.S.
Conference of Mayors. The 23-city Hunger and Homelessness Survey was released
in late December. Requests for emergency food increased in four of every five
cities. Among 15 cities with quantifying data, the median increase in requests
for food was 10 percent and in some cities it was much higher. Detroit and some
other cities reported seeing more working poor among those seeking food. In
Detroit, emergency food requests shot up 35 percent over the 12-month period
ending in October. Officials there noted that "due to a lack of resources,
emergency food assistance facilities have had to reduce the number of days
and/or hours of operation." Thirteen of 19 survey cities reported they
could not meet the demand for emergency food. Los Angeles was one of the major
cities reporting difficulties in serving the growing need. An official in L.A.
said: "Emergency food assistance facilities have to turn away people.
According to the L.A. Regional Foodbank, over 30 percent of their food pantries
have had to turn clients away and pantries that don't turn clients away are
providing less food.
Email www.chron.com...Oil prices soared to $100 a
barrel Wednesday for the first time ever, reaching that milestone amid an
unshakeable view that global demand for oil and petroleum products will
continue to outstrip supplies. Surging economies in China and India fed by oil
and gasoline have sent prices soaring over the past year, while tensions in oil
producing nations like Nigeria and Iran have increasingly made investors
nervous and invited speculators to drive prices even higher.