Intuit's Vibe

Roses and Revolutions

By Dudley Randall

Musing on roses and revolutions,

I saw night close down on the earth

like a great dark wing,

and the lighted cities were like tapers in the night,

and I heard the lamentations of a million hearts

regretting life and crying for the grave,

and I saw the Negro lying in the swamp

with his face blown off,

and the northern cities with his manhood maligned

and felt the writhing of his viscera

like that of a hare hunted down or the bear at bay,

and I saw men working

and taking joy in their work

and embracing the hard-eyed whore

with joyless excitement

and lying with wives and virgins in impotence

And as I groped in darkness

and felt the pain of million,
gradually, like day driving night

across the continent,

I saw dawn upon them like the sun a vision

of a time when all men walk

proudly through the earth

and the bombs and missiles lie

at the bottom of the ocean

like the bones of dinosaurs buried

under the shale of eras,

and men strive with each other not for power

or the accumulation of paper

but in joy create for others the house,

the poem, the game of athletic beauty.

Then washed in the brightness of this vision,

I saw how in its radiance would grow

and be nourished and suddenly

burst into terrible and splendid bloom

the blood-red flower of revolution...

Bit of History

Dudley Felker Randall (1914-2000)

Born January 14, 1914 in Washington DC, Dudley Felker Randall, the son of Arthur George Clyde, a Congressional Minister, and Ada Viola, a teacher, showed an early interest in poetry. His family moved to Detroit, Michigan in 1920. Randall graduated from high school at age sixteen. His first poem was published three years earlier in the Detroit Free Press.

From 1932 to 1937, Randall worked in Ford Motor Company's River Rouge, Michigan foundry. While Randall later "agreed with the suggestion...that a wordless occupation, one that is rhythmical and monotonous, helps the creative process," he found intellectual stimulation during this period at the poetry reading he attended in the evenings. He began a friendship with poet Robert Hayden, who became a professor at the University of Michigan and poetry consultant for the Library of Congress.

From 1938 to 1943, Randall worked for the U.S. Postal Service in Detroit, Michigan as a clerk and letter carrier. In July 1943, Randall was inducted into the US Army Air Corps; he served in the South Pacific as a supply sergeant in the Signal Corps. After the war, Randall returned to his position with the postal service and attended Wayne State University, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English (1949). Randall earned his Master's degree in Library Science in 1951 at the University of Michigan. He also studied at the University of Ghana (1970)

For the next twenty-five (25) years, Randall worked as a librarian, first at Morgan State and Lincoln universities in Missouri; he returned to Detroit in 1956, where he worked in the Wayne County Federated Library System. After a brief teaching assignment in 1969, Randall became librarian and poet in residence at the University of Detroit; he retired in 1974.

In 1962, Randall became associated with poetry readings at Boone House, a Detroit black cultural center. He and poet Margaret Danner, who also read her work there, later collaborated on Poem Counterpoem (1966), the first book published by Broadside Press, Randall's publishing company, which "began without capital"...and grew "by hunches, intuition, trial and error."

Randall founded Broadside Press in 1963 to copyright The Battle of Birmingham, a poem about the 1963 church bombing that killed four little black girls, and Dressed All in Pink, a poem about the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Both poems were set to music by New York folksinger Jerry Moore. Randall printed the poems on single sheets, broadsides, to protect his interest.

The Broadside Series expanded in 1966 when Randall obtained the permission of poets Robert Hayden, Melvin B. Tolson, Margaret Walker and Gwendolyn Brooks to publish their work. In Broadside Memories (1965), Randall grouped their poetry under the heading "Poems of the Negro Revolt." From 1965 to 1977, Randall maintained the financial and artistic independence of Broadside Press, never accepting loans or outside funding.

Broadside Press became the primary publication for young poets, including Haki R. Madhubuti (Don L. Lee), Sonia Sanchez, Nikki Giovanni and Etheridge Knight, "who were committed in their poetry to the cause of political, social and moral revolution, and all believed that poetry and other forms of artistic expression should serve the ends of revolution."

In addition to its broadsides, Broadside Press published For Malcolm (1967), a collection of poems about slain leader Malcolm X, Black Poetry (1969), an anthology of black poetry compiled to address University of Michigan students' complaints that "standard anthologies did not include black poets."

Over Randall's twelve- year tenure as publisher of Broadside Press, it flourished artistically, publishing more than ninety (90) broadsides, fifty-five (55) books and a series of sound recordings. However, Broadside Press was never profitable. In 1977, Randall sold Broadside Press to a local church. While he stayed on as a consultant, Randall experienced a severe bout of depression.

Randall's first major collection of his work, More to Remember, was published by Haki R. Madhubuti's Chicago-based Third World Press. This was followed by two smaller chapbooks, Cities Burning (1968), which was published by Broadside Press, and After the Killing (1973), published by Third World Press. In 1981, Randall published A Litany of Friends, a collection of poems published by Lotus Press and dedicated to the many friends that helped him through various stages of his growth and development as a poet and person, including his depression.

In 1984, Randall edited Homage to Hoyt Fuller, a collection of essays and poems published by Broadside Press. Randall retired from Broadside Press in 1987. He was honored at its Twenty-Fifth Anniversary for his contribution to African American Literature. His other many awards and honors include the Thompkins Award for Poetry and Fiction (1962, 1966), Kuumba Liberation Award (1973), Arts Award in Literature (1975), Distinguished Alumnus Award, University of Michigan (1975) and Wayne State University (1977), International Black Writers' Conference Award (1977), Creative Artist Award in Literature, Michigan Council for the Arts (1981), National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship (1981), and Senior Fellowship (1986), and poet laureate of the City of Detroit (1981).

Randall married three times, Ruby Hudson (1935), Mildred Pinckney (1942) and Vivian Spencer (1957); he had one child, Phyllis Ada, by his first wife. Dudley Randall, librarian, poet and publisher died August 5, 2000 in Southfield, Michigan. (Sources: www.aaregistry.com, http://en.wikipedia.org and www.answers.com)

A Year Late and A Few Trillion Dollars Short

By John Burl Smith

A year late and a few trillion dollars short, the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) reported last week that the nation has been in recession a year. Following up that bad news, the Associated Press reported (12-1-08) bank regulators warned as early as 2005 that a mortgage meltdown was imminent. However, others, including The DISH, were warning as far back as the "Asian contagion" in the mid 1990s that an international financial crisis was on the way due to unchecked use of credit and derivatives.

Today's crisis mirrors Japan's financial meltdown in that both were the results of a real estate bubble created by speculation and commercial paper issued by banks and insurance companies. Japan exacerbated its crisis by refusing to write off debts on its books. Instead, the government poured billions into the banking system trying to stave off the inevitable reckoning. Although Japan avoided a complete collapse, the crisis deepened and recovery took far longer than it would have had those responsible for the crisis wrote off the debts and took the losses.

America has caused the same kind of international economic crisis with its real estate bubble and is following the same playbook. Starting with AIG, the US government continues to throw good money after bad, trying to keep banks and insurance companies that created the crisis from taking losses. George W. Bush still refuses to take any blame for first jawboning down the economy in order to give tax cuts to the richest Americans, then his irrational exuberance in support of Alan Greenspan's real estate bubble. Finally, fighting the "war on terror" on credit has meant putting the cost of invading Iraq and Afghanistan, wars of choice, on the backs America's grandchildren. His chickens have come home to roost dressed up as the current economic crisis.

Now, the Bush administration and its supporters are saying, "It doesn't matter how we got here, what matters now is doing what's necessary to get out of this mess." Conversely, those who warned of this impending doom as far back as the mid-1990s, say that is exactly the point. Unless one understands the policies and actions that got us into this morass, one has no way of knowing the correct policies and actions to implement that will get the country out. The bank bailout is a good example of knee jerk programs and actions that only throw good money after bad hoping something good will happen.

The source of the United States' (US) current problems is the refusal of Congress and the media to hold George W. Bush accountable for any of his illegal, disastrous and greed laden policies and actions. Bush got a bye from the beginning in 2000 and now, eight years later, after presiding over the worst administration in US history, and even after the recent disclosure of his culpability in the current economic crisis, still no one will call his hand. Pulling cards out of his sleeves like a river boat gambler, Bush is holding two aces, while his opponent holds four.

On Monday (12-1-08) after NBER, the group of academic economists charged with determining when business cycles meet the criteria for declaring the US economy in recession, made its announcement, the White House admitted GDP turned negative in the July-September quarter of this year. Many economists believe it is falling in the current quarter at an even sharper rate.

However, using broader and more precise measures, such as employment data to which the Bush administration had access, NBER declared the current downturn began in December of 2007 and will be the most severe since the 1981-82 recession. They forecasted that the country is being battered by the most severe financial crisis since the 1930s with banks struggling to deal with billions of dollars in loan losses. This begs the question, what numbers did Bush's economic team use to present their rosy scenario? Bush and his bean counters, as they did in the run up to war in Iraq, continue to cherry pick through economic data to keep from admitting what most Americans knew two years ago.

Cherry picking is how Bush avoided acknowledging regulators' warnings in 2005 about risky loans written by the banks that now have hat-in-hand looking for more bailout money. Banks were warned that exotic mortgages were often inappropriate for buyers with bad credit. Banks that bundled and sold mortgages were told to be sure investors knew what they were buying. Regulators urged banks to help buyers make responsible decisions and clearly advise people that interest rates might skyrocket and huge payments might be due sooner than expected. The Bush administration turned blind eyes and deaf ears to such warnings, which is why no one wants to look at exactly how we got here and why no stringent requirement is placed on banks and insurance companies getting bailouts.

As a result of Bush's tax cuts, the war in Iraq and the Wall Street bailout, Americans have experienced the greatest transfer of wealth in the history of the US. Bush has created a class of robber barons far worst than J. P. Morgan, Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, Cornelius Vanderbilt and E. H. Harriman. Even though these men amassed great wealth through a ruthless disregard for public welfare, they did produce jobs, goods and services that benefited more than themselves. This class Bush is creating and entrenching with the bank bailout pursues greed simply for the sake of greed, which is why they are so opposed to spreading wealth.

During his eight years in the White House, Bush has not only turned back the clock on civil rights and black progress, he has single-handedly wiped out the middle class. The Report of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders chaired by former governor of Illinois Otto Kerner, in 1968 issued this conclusion. "Our nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one white--separate and unequal." Today, America is still moving toward two societies, "one rich and one poor - separate and just as unequal." Many talk of "spreading the wealth around" as class warfare, this same class talked of equality the same way. If the meager and limited changes proposed by President-elect Barack Obama are not permitted to equalize wealth, America will force poor blacks and whites to coalesce around basic survival issues like food, job and health care. Such a coalition may prove to be far more volatile than the riots of the sixties.

News You Use

Lions for Lambs

By John Burl Smith

Entertaining audiences with a subject as painful as war is very difficult, unless one treats it as a fictional, romantic or comedic event. If one chooses to make a movie that educates the audience about the greedy, self-serving and power driven individuals that manipulate events, along with the misguided, weak and indolent individuals that are so inured of the system they give in to the madness, and those who confuse patriotism with group think, propaganda with facts, and acquiescence with the desire to make changes from the inside, the undertaking is daunting.

Such was my realization last week when I rented movies over the holiday. Having only seen the trailer, I expected Lions for Lambs, a movie directed by Robert Redford to be the usual action/suspense/thriller with some exotic twist at the end. Although it contained some of these elements, it did something I never expected a Redford film to do. The tagline, "If you don't STAND for something, you might FALL for anything," sets up a premise that lurks around the edges of the story like an unwanted guest at holiday dinners.

The opening scene only gives one a glimpse of the seedy side of war as Senator Jasper Irving (Tom Cruise) and Janine Roth (Meryl Streep) seem to be doing a mazurka rather than the ideological tango that become more evident as their point counter point plays like music. The quintessential politician, Irving sees war as the road to the White House, as Cruise looks like a George Bush understudy with far more mucus smoothing out his rough edges. Struggling to avoid drowning in the Washington slimy, Roth feigns objectivity until she realizes, even though she's not an imbed, Irving has propositioned her to become a mouthpiece for the Pentagon's propaganda.

Afghanistan is the slaughterhouse that two young idealistic minorities, Ernest Rodriguez (Michael Peña) and Arian Finch (Derek Luke), are dropped or fall into as the point in a new strategy to take the high ground in Afghanistan is unveiled. Symbolizing the true America and what happens to those with only a crab barrel view of the land of the free and the home of the brave, Ernest and Arian are lions being led to slaughter by lambs.

The central focus of the movie is a conversation between Professor Stephen Malley (Robert Redford) and Todd Hayes (Andrew Garfield), his student. A test of wills and ideals, the meeting reveals Todd's grade has nothing to do with classroom performance. It is a scene played out on college campuses all over America, where young white boys and girls are given the keys to the kingdom. Fact of the matter is, this rite of passage is what college is really all about, and it is a session those young lions never get and which defines the difference between "lambs and lions." This scene explains why Ernest and Arian end up on an isolated battlefield in Afghanistan and Todd goes on to become Sen. Irving in real life.

Lions for Lambs is a credit to Redford as a director. Exploring the implications of the choices people make without realizing they are just a small gear in a massive machine called America and no matter what we cannot recall our unthinking or misguided beliefs that led to those choices. Seeing this reality unfold disturbed me, as well as provoked anger, as I viewed the truth about America everyone struggles so desperately to hide or avoid.

Most Americans are like Ernest and Arian or Janine Roth which is why things remain as they are. This movie has a haunting quality that opens the door just enough to get a peek into the room but the door is not wide enough to get your foot in and gain a full view, leaving the viewer to guess about the real plot. For me, the reality is America is a place where promises never live up to the hope engendered in those who believe them and those who reap the benefits of its promises do not give a damn about the hope America represents to those who struggle to make its promises real.

Lions for Lambs is a very good family movie for those that supported President-elect Barack Obama and want their children to understand the grim choices ahead. The next time you are in the video store and want a douse of reality, check out Lions for Lambs

Hood Notes

OBAMA DOLLAR ALERT!

By John Burl Smith

Over the last couple of weeks there has been a promotion on television in Georgia and Tennessee selling a plate for $19.95 and a dollar for $9.95. Both contain the likeness of President-elect Barack Obama and claim to be authorized promotions sponsored by the American Historic Society. The DISH has received several inquiries and complaints regarding this promotion. We took an investigative look to dispel or confirm the reports we have received and to our amazement we could not locate the American Historic Society.

There is no web address and telephone calls only get recordings. The only online site we could find was www.complaints.com/december2001/complaintoftheday.december19.19.htm. This site is dedicated to helping customers through their "the American Historic Society - Poor Customer Service," who have ordered items like the Obama Collector Coin Set, the Obama Gold Coin Set and the State Quarter Set, and did not receive them. The website where these items are listed is www.morganmint.com and it lists an 800 number and an onsite email contact for ordering.

According to Rhonda Swan, an editorial writer for The Palm Beach Post (rhonda_swan@pbpost.com), the society is a subsidiary of National Consumer Marketing and is not connected to the U.S. government, nor is the New England Mint, which is selling U.S. coins colorized with images of Mr. Obama. Like the hustlers on the corner selling Obama hats and T-shirts, and those on eBay offering Obama guitar straps and paper weights, these companies are cashing in on America's euphoria over electing its "first black president."

Here are a few frustrated customer complaints: "RE: The American Historic Society - I ordered several coin sets from the American Historic Society back in November (2007). I paid an extra fee to guarantee delivery in 5 days. When five days passed, I called for the status of my order. I was told the order was delayed, but delivery was guaranteed by Christmas.

I got the same story each time I called to check on the status--until yesterday. On December 18 they told me that my account was just charged and the coins just mailed (regular mail, not even UPS) and I would NOT get delivery by Christmas. Sandra Skalski."

"I received an email from another customer with the same issues on the colored quarter sets. He gave me a number for Unified Precious Metals (818) 734-7500 ext. 0. With luck, Unified Precious Metals was the parent company of The American Historic Society. We will see, I am to be receiving my coins in approx. 3 weeks, and will continue until the set is complete. Thanks again Blaine."

"I called the Unified Precious Metals. They said they are not affiliated with the American Historic Society. They do sell the Colorized State Quarters wholesale, however. They have no history of the order placed with the American Historic Society and cannot help me. Has anybody had any resolution to their order placed with the American Historic Society?"

"Why can't we get customer service to help us with this? When I call I get a recorded message saying, "Write to customer service" What's going on????? They can't talk to us anymore?"

The DISH sent several emails to the Obama transition team last week requesting clarification on whether Mr. Obama has a relationship with these people, but we have not received any reply. It seems very odd for this situation to go unnoticed, since the American Historic Society is selling the president-elect's image. I do not remember such a promotion involving George W. Bush or any other US President. The word on the streets of Atlanta and Memphis is that the Ku Klux Klan is behind the American Historic Society and is using the Obama dollar to raise money.

If this is a legitimate promotion that President-elect Obama is involved with, where is the money going? Why wasn't this opportunity given a black charity, like historically black colleges and universities or Rev. Hosea Williams Feed the Hungry and Homeless? If it is illegitimate, why hasn't this scam been stopped? Innocent people who love Mr. Obama are being victimized with a Wall Street bailout type scheme. It may not be possible to stop every scam artist selling buttons and t-shirts but this is big business advertising on national television selling the President-elect's face; this makes him look cheap and greedy. His face is an intellectual property right!

Comments from the Bat Cave

The Dark Knight-Batman/White Ninja/Zorro has never exhibited any special athletic ability. He is the only person I know who has literally sat on the tennis court during a session. We, his family, have often wondered about his passions and innate talents, beyond video games and girls. We know he is a man of few words, so imagine our surprise on learning he sings, though not exactly like a bird. When queried for comments on becoming a member of his school's choir, the Dark One/Ninja/Zorro gushed an octave lower than his normal voice, "Grandma, I am a baritone."

Disgruntled wants to know: There is a great deal of skepticism surrounding the government's bailout of banks and insurance companies, especially their loan modification programs. While the federal money has infused capital into the banking system, most of it appears to be financing mergers and acquisitions; it has certainly not eased credit. Loan modification programs, which were put in place by banks and insurance companies, including the mortgage affiliate of AIG, have assisted about a quarter of homeowners in trouble; many of those will still lose their homes, according to economists looking at the high recidivism rate of homeowners that have been helped by some sort of loan modification, but remain in trouble. This does not bode well for the economy pulling out of its housing slump any time soon. Moreover, critics of the bailout charge banks are not absorbing losses from the modification program and are instead passing them off to investors. According to Business Week, at least one money management firm plans to sue one of the nation's largest banks over its loan modification program. This development raises a serious question about US capitalism that applies to all the recent federal market intervention as opposed to "market self-correction." Investors, banks and insurance companies enjoyed the profits, and there were some huge profits made in the real estate bubble, shouldn't they all suffer the losses?

Disgruntled says: It's official sports fans - the US is now in the throes of an economic recession. This week the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), a private non-profit research organization of academic economists, announced the US recession began last December. Of course, many of us on the ground with no official credentials, just education and intuition, have been harping for some time regarding the fact that many families were experiencing recession-like conditions and urging the Bush administration to aggressively act to mitigate their welfare loss. You see, some of us do not believe that the government's economic data, particularly its 'conservative' unemployment rate, accurately reflect real economic conditions. Needless to say, the Bush administration ignored our concerns and admonitions. After all, Bush's cronies were living large off record oil and war profits and a Fed-induced real estate bubble. Faced with a financial crisis of historic proportions, the Bush administration has spent hundreds of billions of dollars ostensibly to save the very institutions that benefited most from his fiscal and monetary policies. Ironically, even though the rest of us are simply too small to save or warrant much attention, it is our spending, i.e., consumption, that makes up nearly three-quarters of the nation's gross domestic product. The lesson here is, you cannot enjoy national economic health when millions of consumers are experiencing economic welfare loss.

Disgruntled feels: Good Riddance! George W. Bush has given a number of speeches recently touting the accomplishments of eight years in the Oval Office. With his approval rating in the toilet, the worst in history, Bush has obviously lost touch with reality when citing positive accomplishments, such as bringing democracy to Iraq and Afghanistan, when both nations are occupied by NATO and US armed forces. Neither nation enjoys its sovereignty. Responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths and injuries and untold destruction, his legacy of ill will has reach monstrous proportions, far in excess of the lives lost and destruction that resulted from the terrorist incident of 9-11, the pretext employed to invade two countries. People in the US and around the world are screaming 'good riddance' and celebrating his imminent departure from and influence on global affairs.

Mailbox: E-Mails, Faxes and Telephone Calls

Email www.msnbc.com...Job market is awful, but may get worse...Sharp jump in unemployment shows the economy is rapidly weakening...By John W. Schoen...Friday's report showing the biggest monthly job loss in 34 years confirmed forecasters' worst fears that the decline in the U.S. economy accelerated in November, after the financial system seized up and consumers hunkered down. As the government scrambles to break the downward spiral, some economists are predicting the unemployment rate is headed substantially higher through next year. Since the start of the recession in December 2007, the economy has lost 1.9 million jobs, lifting the number of Americans out of work to 2.7 million. At 6.7 percent, the jobless rate has now risen 2.3 percentage points since it bottomed in March 2007.

Email www.guardian.co.uk...Chinese wealth fund turns back on western banks...China Investment Corporation admits it lacks 'courage to invest in financial institutions'...By Kathryn Hopkins...China Investment Corporation is to put the brakes on making investments in western banks until governments come up with coherent policies to cope with the global economic downturn. Lou Jiwei, the chairman of the sovereign wealth fund, said: "Right now, we do not have the courage to invest in financial institutions. We have to wait for the time when there won't be massive collapses of financial institutions." China has lost confidence in many financial institutions, Lou said, because foreign governments seemed to be changing their policies "every week." The announcement by CIC, which has a 9.9% stake in US investment bank Morgan Stanley and a $3bn stake in US private equity firm Blackstone Group, will come as a big blow to many American banks that had hoped CIC would help bail them out.

Email www.opednews.com...The Controversy Surrounding Obama's Birth...By Adeeba Folami....Critics File Suit Claiming He's Constitutionally Ineligible to Be President...As President-elect Barack Obama, his family, staff and supporters prepare for his January move into the White House, a growing number of critics are voicing support for a campaign which is underway and, if successful, will prevent him from taking office...For months now, "conservative" bloggers and commentators, along with some Democratic supporters of Senator Hillary Clinton, have attempted to focus attention on Obama's birth, particularly the Hawaiian birth certificate posted on his www.fightthesmears.com website. The certificate, however, has a number which has been redacted, and contains no signatures or identification of the birth doctor - things which lead Obama's critics into more questioning since one of three constitutional requirements for the presidency is that a candidate must be a "natural born citizen.

Email www.change.gov ... John D. Podesta, Co-chair The Obama-Biden Transition Project.....Dear John Burl... Everyday, we meet with organizations that present ideas for the Transition and the incoming Obama-Biden Administration. In past transitions, meetings like this have been held behind closed doors. Not anymore. Today, every Obama-Biden Transition staff member received a memo outlining the "Seat at the Table" Transparency Policy. I've included a copy of it below. The policy is pretty simple: the people and groups we're meeting with, the subjects of the meetings, and any documents shared in the meetings will now be made available. Most importantly, the American public can weigh in with comments or their own materials.