Volume 5 Issue 40…Dedicated to the Dialogue on Race…October 11, 2002

Sometimes people realize they have learned profound lessons when they least expected them. Watching a PBS special about one of the United States' living legends on his journey from wasteland to heartland proved just such an occasion for me. An excellent presentation, the American Masters' series answered an enduring refrain about rock music's ageless road dog, "Did success spoil Willie Nelson?" Rather than a chronological documentary, it seemed Willie had returned home and was sharing wonderful memories with friends and family. Unabashedly self-indulgent when it comes to doing things he enjoys, the camera captured Willie Nelson's passion for life.

For me, a stagehand for Willie's last three concerts at Chastain Park in Atlanta, Georgia, this film realistically conveyed the laid-back familial atmosphere characteristic of those performances. Providing insight into influences that shaped Willie's agrarian nature, the documentary artfully displayed the unique character music lovers have come to know through his songs. A descendant of slaves that became sharecroppers, I listened to Willie tell of his struggles to overcome the impoverished circumstances of birth, while holding on to an appreciation for those realities, and connected with him on a truly human level.

Surrounded by a very close-knit band and loyal roadies who were there through periods marked by wildness, sickness and IRS tax battles, they watched Willie's back until he was "On the Road Again." Hard times test one's spirit and bring out the essence of people. An individual's worth cannot be measured in money or by popularity, rather it is gauged by the relationships maintained over a lifetime. This was the most impressive lesson communicated about Willie Nelson through this film.

Willie's journey offers a legacy today's hip-hop artists, such as Alicia Keys, Donnie, Yohannes, and India Arie should embrace and emulate, if longevity is their aim. First, to survive in the dog-eat-dog world of show business, one does not have to be a dog. Secondly, to avoid becoming a bone, it is necessary to build a network of people around you who are dedicated to your well being. Finally, if one keeps both feet on the ground, no matter how high they rise, the distance to earth will remain the same. T.H.I.N.C. about it! Other Essays by John Burl Smith

The Atlanta Vibe Homepage

Intuit's Vibe

Journey!

Journey!

The seeker's soul,

Traveling down that long road of life.

The constant search for purpose and meaning

gleams so bright.

Guided by some undeniable force,

working from within,

driving us to unknown destinations.

Each mile a new experience to cherish.

Every town a new treasure to be claimed.

And, it is the voyage,

which fills the wealth of the reward.

Intuit's Homepage

The Dark Knight-Batman/White Ninja/Zorro is a work in progress (AWIP). Born in the year of the Cock, he is slowly developing into a force with which to be reckoned. Nearly ten, he loves simple things, such as eating his favorite foods, watching TV and playing with his toys. Above all, he revels in the adoration of women. When teased about seeking female attention, the Dark One/Ninja/Zorro exclaimed, "I can do without them!" More Bat Cave Comments

Last January 2002, the American Dialect Society voted "9-11 and its equivalents" Word of the Year. Before the first syllabic quip fell from their linguistic lips, Lake Superior State University in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, authors of the "List of Words Banished From the Queen's English for Mis-Use, Over-Use and General Uselessness," exploded (The DISH Vol. 5 No 2). These pugilist parlance prognosticators massed for WWIII over whether 9-11 memorializes or trivializes that tragedy. Words, once spoken, take on a life of their own. Intractable, some utterances can become self-fulfilling prophecy and, as the "four horsemen of the apocalypse," can rain catastrophe on the just and unjust alike.

Today, still locked in this desperate struggle, we "meet on the battlefield of that Great War to test whether this" word or any word "can long endure." Declaring a War of Words following the UN World Conference Against Racism, Xenophobia, Racial Discrimination and Related Intolerance (WCAR) to blow up its international speak out against racism, Poets For Peace flashed distress signals on behalf of children in Afghanistan. This year on behalf of the Iraqi people, Poets for Peace enter the fray to bomb "unilateralism." Although many verbiage veterans bore arms for old favorites such as imperialism, oil, hypocrisy and greed, rebellious young Kamikaze red barons and syllogistic shoguns packed high-tech laser-guided colloquies like preemption, Enronitis and Al-Qaeda. Nonetheless, when the smoke cleared, the unilateralism juggernaut had carpet-bombed everyone into submission.

Unilateralism, the willingness to go it alone, is a reflection of an American penchant for romanticizing the "Lone Ranger or Masked Man" as a good guy. A wolf in sheep's clothing, unilateralism justifies Emperor George Bush robbing the poor to give to the rich. A war chant reminiscent of Manifest Destiny, Roosevelt's Corollary, and the Cold War, unilateralism is a return to 1904, when the US declared it was "an international police power." Totally opposed to unilateralism, supporters of the "war of words" recognize that Democratic Party Tin Men, Cowardly Lions and Scarecrows turned tails in this fight. Destined to control US foreign policy for the next fifty years, The DISH believes selecting unilateralism as "Word of the Year" will launch a battle of attrition to change this radical US policy. Unlike a "war of words," in a shooting war, lies, not truth, decide who lives and dies. Other Essays by John Burl Smith

Phantom Scribbler

Dispatches from Deep Cover Operative (DCO) Peep City Barnabas detailed Saddam Hussein's current defense strategy to make an invasion of Iraq very costly for the US and its allies. Calculated to thwart a quick defeat and speedy takeover of Iraq's oil fields, the strategic maneuvers are so intense a sense of resignation has settled over Baghdad. Living among Republican Guard families for the last four months, Barnabas connected dots and pieced together this likely scenario.

Peep City found people close to Saddam believe George Bush is only interested in liberating Iraqi oil and controlling its flow in the region. They are convinced, after a massive air attack, Bush plans to move quickly to take possession of oil fields and begin pumping crude as soon as possible. This way, he can pay for the war and reward those who helped secure the country's oil fields. With a new government in place, Bush will be able to cut Russia and China out of billions of dollars they stand to make under a Saddam government free of sanctions.

Mad as a hatter or crazy as a fox, Saddam is placing his missile batteries in and around oil fields and storage facilities. This will provide cover from which to fire on US and British aircraft and force them to attack oil fields to destroy such batteries. Moreover, massing his troops in cities and around oil facilities will prevent the US from carpet-bombing Iraq, as the US did in Afghanistan. Most important, to control Iraq, the US must attack heavily populated cities. Once fighting begins, Iraqi troops will disperse among the population and fight as urban guerrillas against occupation forces or a replacement regime. A desperate gamble by Saddam, but with him and the country wearing a huge bull's-eye in Bush's endgame, everything is lost anyway.

Peep City believes, with the entire nation feeling backed into a corner, like a trapped and wounded animal, rational thought has given rise to a "doomsday" mind-set. Signing off, Barnabas posed these cogent questions: "What is the value of a totally bombed out Iraq? Vietnam all over again, how many casualties will the United States' citizens find acceptable in liberating Iraqi oil? Will the US keep its promise to rebuild a devastated Iraq without the benefits of cheap oil?" Everyone remembers the oil fires in Kuwait.

Bit of History

Under international law, if an armed attack occurs against a nation's sovereign territory, Chapter VII of the United Nations' Charter authorizes the use of force in self-defense. In addition, the United Nations Security Council under Chapter VII can pass resolutions authorizing the use of military force.

Following the Persian Gulf War, which liberated Kuwait from Iraqi aggression, Kurds in Northern Iraq rebelled against Saddam Hussein. Adopted 5 April 1991, UN Resolution 688 condemned the repression of Iraqi civilians and demanded that Iraq cease immediately. Ostensibly to protect coalition airdrops of aid to Kurdish refugees on the Turkish border and coalition ground troops advancing into northern Iraq as part of Operation Provide Comfort, President George Bush declared the northern Iraqi region a no-fly zone. It denied Iraq the ability to fly aircraft over areas patrolled by allied planes.

Drafted under Chapter II of the UN Charter, Resolution 688 does not authorize the use of force. Neither Operation Provide Comfort nor the no-fly zone, dubbed Operation Northern Watch, is mentioned in 688. The US, Great Britain and Turkey participate in Operation Northern Watch, which is based at Incirlik Air Base in Turkey. After Iraq withdrew its ground troops in October 1991, the region came under Kurdish control, but the no-fly zone remains in operation.

In August 1992, members of the Gulf War coalition again invoked Resolution 688 in establishing a second no-fly zone. The UN Human Rights Special Rapporteur's report citing Iraqi military pressure on the Shia population of the southern marshes triggered Operation Southern Watch. Based in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, U.S. and U.K. provide the aircraft. After the U.S. and Britain bombed Iraq in December 1998, killing scores of civilians, France left the no-fly zone coalition.

Combined, the no-fly zones cover more than half of Iraq. No-fly zone critics argue they are outside international law and the Gulf War cease-fire agreement. Seen as unilateral aggression, the no-fly zones violate Iraqi territorial integrity and national sovereignty, which are guaranteed by international law. Critics add that whatever justified no-fly zones in 1991, their presence is not justified more than a decade later. The US and UK are alone among Security Council members in their insistence that the frequent bombing of Iraq in the no-fly zones is sanctioned by international law. (Source: Sarah Graham-Brown (sgbrown@gn.apc.org ), "No-Fly Zones: Rhetoric and Real Intentions"(2/20/01) Http://www.merip.org/pins/pin44.html, and http://www.nonviolence.org/vitw/airwar8.html ) More Bits of History

Politics Y2K2

According to Neil Mackay, George W. Bush planned an Iraqi 'regime change' before the Supreme Court coup d'etat installed him in office. His article at http://www.sundayherald.com/27735 cites a blueprint uncovered by the Sunday Herald that calls for the creation of a 'global Pax Americana.' Drawn up for Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, Jeb Bush and Lewis Libby, "Rebuilding America's Defenses: Strategies, Forces And Resources For A New Century" was written in September 2000 by the neo-conservative think-tank Project for the New American Century.

Echoing earlier work by Wolfowitz and Libby, the global domination blueprint recommends that the US discourage other nations from challenging its leadership or aspiring to larger roles and shape international security to reflect its interests. Using Iraq as the immediate justification for putting a substantial force in the Gulf region, the US plans to control the area and its oil reserves. The plan calls for permanent bases in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait -- despite domestic opposition -- as 'Iran may prove as large a threat to US interests as Iraq.

Calling US armed forces abroad 'the cavalry on the new American frontier,' a core US mission is to 'fight and win multiple, simultaneous wars.' Using its allies, such as the UK, as "the most effective and efficient means of exercising its global leadership," the plan calls for replacing the UN in peacekeeping missions with US leaders. Viewing China, North Korea, Libya, Syria and Iran as dangerous regimes, whose existence justifies the creation of a 'worldwide command-and-control system,' the plan includes regime changes in these nations and an increased US presence in Southeast Asia.

To ensure global domination, the plan calls for 'US Space Forces' to dominate space and control cyberspace. Despite threats of war against Iraq for developing weapons of mass destruction, the US may use bio-weapons, including advanced biological warfare, to 'targets' specific genotypes, thus transforming bio-warfare from the realm of terror to a politically useful tool of US world domination.

According to Milton Friedman, a recession is a downturn in the business cycle in which income, output and employment decrease, and the fall off in business and consumer optimism is reflected by a decline in capital investment and consumption. The US economy was not in a typical recession when Congress passed and George W. Bush signed last year's massive tax cut. Government economists tweaked the numbers to give Bush data that technically met this definition. Outside government, probably the best examples of numerical manipulations are seen in poll numbers and stock market analyst recommendations to met Wall Street expectations.

Recently released employment statistics hide the real economic pain experienced on the ground. In fact, if the country was in a recession in 2001, the condition is worsening, despite numbers to the contrary. With the stock market tanking, rising unemployment would not have been welcomed on Wall Street, so government economists obliged Bush and the market by providing numbers that show unemployment declining. Yet, in reality, the economy is in much worst shape now than when Bush crafted his tax cut solution.

The national unemployment rate does not show the double digits experienced by blacks and young people. Part-time and temporary employment is increasing, because people wanting to work are unable to find full-time permanent positions. Workers that have stopped looking for jobs are not reflected in the data because they are not actively seeking employment, i.e., discouraged. This sector of the labor pool is increasing, giving rise to a growing underground economy. The number of people living in poverty and unemployment are up. Optimism, stocks and investments are down. Even with a Bush spin, the US economy is in recession.

To get the economy out of its economic malaise, some fiscal stimulus in the form of a tax cut would be the standard remedy. However, federal, state and local governments are operating on deficits. Moreover, more deficit spending will be necessary to prosecute the war on terrorism and fund an impending escalation of the conflict against Iraq. Further cuts in the federal income tax or state and local taxes are not feasible.

To stimulate consumer spending and encourage small business investment, a cut in payroll taxes would give workers more discretionary income and reduce business expenses. In addition to reducing the burden of payroll taxes, which fall disproportionately on low income workers, federal and state governments could force banks and other businesses to pass along to all consumers the savings they enjoyed when the Federal Reserve reduced the cost of credit. Interest rates are historically low; the discount rate is less than 2 percent. Yet, some US consumers are saddled with mortgages and consumer debt that carry interest rates in the double digits, particularly in sub-prime markets.

Neither fudged economic data, tax cuts for the wealthy, NAFTA nor terrorism insurance will cure the current economic malaise. The economy needs consumers spending; wealthy people will not spend more on food, clothing and shelter, nor will they buy more cars, washing machines and televisions. Cutting payroll taxes and lowering consumer interest rates will provide much-needed economic stimulus. Call your elected representatives and demand they display the political courage to propose and implement solutions to improve US economic conditions for those hurting the most. If they fail to act, then vote them out of office! Hot Dishes 2002

Disgruntled wants to know: In his 'major' address, which no major network carried, George W. Bush's beady eyes followed the teleprompter. One could tell he wanted us to feel threatened by Saddam. What US national security interests are jeopardized by this regime?

Disgruntled feels: Double standard! From 1955 to 1992, Israel violated 66 UN Security Council Resolutions. Since then, it violated scores more in its repression of Palestinians. Armed with US-provided conventional and nuclear weapons of mass destruction, Israel has not been threatened with war for its failure to comply with UN resolutions. This is a double standard!

Disgruntled says: The US Constitution empowers Congress to declare and fund warfare. Ignoring reality, Congress is not working; the country is swimming in a sea of continuing resolution red ink and the economy is tanking. Instead of dealing with these issues, Congress is debating an escalation of the US war against Iraq, a conflict the US has been engaged in for more than a decade. Since Congress is little more than a rubberstamp, I would not be surprised if George W. Bush declared it irrelevant in much the same way as he has already done with the United Nations. More Disgruntled 2002

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