The DISH

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Vol. 8 No. 47…Dedicated to the Dialogue on Race…November 25, 2005

Venue for an Artist

Who Are These People?

Lyrics by Burt Bacharach and Tonio K.

Who are these people that keep telling us lies
And how did these people get control of our lives
And who’ll stop the violence cause it’s out of control?
Make em stop

Who are these people that destroy everything
And sell off the future for whatever it brings
And what kind of leaders can’t admit when they’re wrong?
Make em stop

This stupid mess we’re in just keeps getting worse
So many people dying needlessly
Looks like the liars may inherit the earth
Even pretending to pray
And getting away with it

Who are these people that keep telling us lies
And how did these people get control of our lives
And who’ll stop the violence cause it’s out of control?
We’ve got to make them stop

Who are these people that keep telling us lies
And how did these people get control of our lives
and who’ll stop the violence cause it’s out of control?
Make em stop

See things really have to change
Before it’s too late

About Me: For his newly released album At This Time, Burt Bacharach departs from his usual love songs and teams up with a diverse group of artists to make a political statement. Released internationally by Sony BMG on October 24 and on November 1 in the US by Columbia Records, artists collaborating on this album include project director Andrew Hale, Chris Botti, Elvis Costello, Rufus Wainwright, Prinz Board, Denaun Porter and Dr. Dre. About this album, Bacharach said, “Look, I’ve been in this business a long time. I’ve written love songs, I’ve never rocked the boat, never was political.” At This Time, I am now very distressed. It grieves me....These are still love songs about being broken-hearted, about hearts being broken. But instead of another person, the relationship breaking your heart, it’s the situation: The war. (Sources: www.bacharachonline.com, www.allaboutjazz.com, and www.rollingstone.com)

Kudos! Kudos!

Murtha’s Resolution

“The war in Iraq is not going as advertised. It is a flawed policy wrapped in illusion. The American public is way ahead of us. The United States and coalition troops have done all they can in Iraq, but it is time for a change in direction. Our military is suffering. The future of our country is at risk. We cannot continue on the present course. It is evident that continued military action is not in the best interests of the United States of America, the Iraqi people or the Persian Gulf Region.”

With that opening salvo, Rep. John Murtha (D-PA), a decorated Vietnam and Korean Wars veteran, proposed Congress pass a resolution to immediately redeploy US troops, create a quick reaction force in the Persian Gulf region and an over-the-horizon presence for Marines and diplomatically pursue security and stability in Iraq.

The GOP backlash was immediate. Starting with Vice President Dick Cheney, who questioned Rep. Murtha’s judgement. Others branded him a coward. Recipient of a Bronze Star and two Purple Hearts, Rep. Murtha deserves better than a Swift-Boat trashing. His concerns for our troops dovetail most US citizens’, the majority that sees the Iraq policy as a failure, a war entered on false premises. Kudos to the congressman for speaking truth to power!

Bit of History

Gordon Roger Alexander Buchanan Parks

The youngest of fifteen children, Gordon Parks was born on November 30, 1912 in Fort Scott, Kansas. At age fifteen, Parks’ mother died; he was sent to live with a married sister in St. Paul, Minnesota. After an argument with his brother-in-law, he was kicked out of the house. Forced to support himself, Parks worked on a variety of temporary jobs, including playing piano in a brothel and mopping floors. The leader of a band on tour heard him play and invited him to join the group.

On returning to New York, the band broke up. Unemployed and living in a rat-infested Harlem tenement, Parks joined the Civilian Conservation Corps (1933) and married Sally Alvis. In 1934, the couple returned to St. Paul, where he went to work for North Coastal Limited as a dining car waiter and porter. On a 1937 trip to Seattle, Parks purchased his first camera, a Voigtlander Brilliant, at a pawn shop.

The film of his first pictures--seagulls in flight from Seattle's waterfront--were dropped off at Eastman Kodak in Minneapolis. Parks’ work attracted attention; Kodak hosted his first exhibition.

A Minneapolis department store hired Parks for a fashion feature. Impressed, Mrs. Marva Louis, wife of boxing champion Joe Lewis, encouraged him to setup shop in Chicago. Parks’ fashion photos fed his family; he spent his spare time documenting life in Chicago’s slums and the great migration of blacks from the south. His documentary photographs won the first Julius Rosenwald Fellowship (1941).

In January 1942, Parks went to Washington, D.C. to work with Roy Stryker in the film section of the Farm Security Administration (FSA). When it disbanded (1943), Parks worked as a correspondent for the Office of War Information. He left the job in disgust and moved back to Harlem, when he was prohibited from accompanying the first unit of black fighter pilots to Europe to document their war story. In 1944, Parks went to work for Standard Oil of New Jersey with his former boss-- Roy Stryker.

Parks joined Life magazine in 1948. On his first assignment, Parks profiled Harlem gang leader Red Jackson. His photos included one of Jackson with a .45 pistol in his hand, awaiting a showdown with a rival gang. In 1961, Parks went to Brazil to document its poverty; he met Flavio da Silva, a Rio de Janeiro boy dying of asthma. Parks’ work, which generated an outpouring of financial and medical assistance, saved Flavio’s life. The documentary Flavio (1962) won the Christopher Award. Parks’ long career at Life ended in1972.

Parks became the first black to produce and direct a film for a major studio in 1968. He co-produced, directed, wrote the screenplay and composed the musical score for The Learning Tree. He directed Shaft (1971), Shaft's Big Score (1972), The Super Cops (1974) and Leadbelly (1976). His documentaries for television and the Public Broadcasting System (PBS) include Solomon Northrup's Odyssey, The World of Piri Thomas, Diary of a Harlem Family, which won an Emmy (1964), and Mean Streets.

His books include A Choice of Weapons (1966), To Smile in Autumn (1979) and Voices in the Mirror. Parks also published several volumes of poetry with photographs. In 1972, Parks received the NAACP Spingarn Medal for Born Black (1971), a collection of articles on black Americans.

In 1988, President Reagan awarded Parks the National Medal of Arts, and PBS aired his autobiographical film, Moments without Proper Names. Parks completed the musical score and libretto for Martin, a ballet about Martin Luther King, Jr. (1989). In 1998, he published Half Past Autumn: A Retrospective, which accompanied a Corcoran Gallery of Art exhibit of his work. A 2002 inductee into the International Photography Hall of Fame and Museum in Oklahoma City, Parks received the Jackie Robinson Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award.

Recipient of numerous awards and honorariums, Parks recently signed copies of his eighth book "A Hungry Heart: A Memoir" and "Eyes with Winged Thoughts," a collection of poems and photos at the Studio Museum in Harlem, where he was honored for his achievements in photography, literature, film and music. (Sources: www.aaregistry.com, www.albany.edu and www.pbs.org)

Comments from the Bat Cave

Like young people across the United States of America, the Dark Knight-Batman/White Ninja/Zorro looks forward to Christmas with great anticipation of what he maybe receiving. He has a wish list. Joyously, he shares it with members of his family. Reminding him about the meaning of this holiday, his grandma explained celebrating the birth of Christ is about giving. When asked what he planned to give and to whom, he studied for a long moment. Desperate, the Dark One/Ninja/Zorro responded, “I gave Ty (his younger brother) a gift idea for his list.”

Politics Y2K5

Abramoff: A Study of Money and Influence

On November 17, 2005, the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, which is looking into allegations that Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff fraudulently collected $82 million in fees from tribal clients and improperly used his relationships with lawmakers and administration officials to lobby on behalf of his clients, questioned Italia Federici, president of the Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy (CREA). Ms. Federici told the Committee that Abramoff's tribal clients donated $500,000 over three years to her organization because they were generous, not because they hoped she would help defeat rival tribal efforts to open casinos.

Committee Chairman Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and Sen. Byron L. Dorgan (D-N) presented dozens of e-mails and other documents showing Abramoff relied on Federici to use her relationship with then-Deputy Secretary of the Interior J. Steven Griles to help Abramoff’s clients. Federici insisted there was no quid pro quo. She also denied having any knowledge of Abramoff’s funding of Ralph Reed’s campaign against certain Indian casinos.

While Abramoff has denied any wrongdoing, documents and testimony gathered by the panel show he used money collected from tribes to fund his other organizations - including a Jewish school for boys and a sniper training clinic in the Middle East; the tribes knew nothing about these organizations. Earlier this year, a federal grand jury in Florida indicted Abramoff in an unrelated case on charges of fraud and conspiracy stemming from his role in the 2000 purchase of a fleet of gambling boats.

Abramoff’s partner and former aide to Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Texas), Michael Scanlon has pleaded guilty to conspiring with another lobbyist, identified only as "Lobbyist A," to defraud Indian tribe clients of millions of dollars. Scanlon has been cooperating in the Justice Department probe since June. Documents filed Friday in Washington, D.C., state that Scanlon and Lobbyist A recruited a member of Congress, identified only as Representative No. 1, with gifts, trips, meals, entertainment and campaign contributions to aid their effort to pass legislation.

Nearly three dozen members of Congress received campaign contributions from Abramoff’s clients and intervened shortly thereafter on their behalf with letters to Interior Secretary Gale Norton. These lawmakers include House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL), Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid, Rep. Jim McCrery (R-La), Senator David Vitter (R-LA), Rep. Tom DeLay (R-TX), Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX), Rep. John Doolittle (R-CA), House Majority Leader Roy Blunt, (R-MO), Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles Grassley (R-IO), Senator Trent Lott (R-MS), former Senator John Breaux (D-LA.), Senator Thad Cochran (R-MS) and Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA). All have denied any quid pro quo.

News You Use

Sony Security Scheme

The Extended Copyright Program (XCP), developed by First4Internet in Britain and used on music CDs by Sony BMG to restrict copying and sharing, installs itself on Windows-operated personal computers when consumers play certain Sony BMG music CDs. The anti-copying program limits the number of times CDs can be copied and secretly transmits details about what music the PC is playing.

These revelations have generated concern among computer users. In addition to the spying, the XCP acts like a virus. It hides deep inside a computer where it leaves the backdoor open for other viruses, such as the “Trojan horse” programs that can steal personal information, launch attacks on other computers and send spam.

In response to the outcry over its spy software, Sony BMG provided a patch to remove XCP. To get the uninstall program, users have to request it by filling out a form online. The form downloads and installs a program designed to ready the PC for the patch, which leaves the PC open to downloading and installing code from any Internet site.

Microsoft has indicated it will remove XCP software from PCs running Windows and include the fix in its monthly update to the Malicious Software Removal Tool.

In the meantime, states’ attorney generals and consumer groups have filed several lawsuits. Sony BMG has recalled millions of CDs and asked retailers to pull CD titles containing the XCP program from their store shelves. Artists on the Sony BMG label whose CDs may contain XCP software include Neil Diamond, Celion Dion, Van Zant and The Bad Plus. Another anti-copying program from another firm, SunnComm, is on millions of CDs, including releases by artists such as Alicia Keys and Foo Fighters.

If you have played Sony BMG music on your PC that runs a Windows operating system, your computer may be vulnerable. For more, see www.computerworld.com.

DISHing It Up Hot!

Save Stanley–End the Death Penalty

By Dot

“Evil has a name none dare speaks; it hides in plain sight among the mild and meek.” Some sage said it. I do not know his/her name; it came to me as I signed the petition online to save Stanley’s life.

Sherry Swiney (www.patrickcrusade.org), a DISH reader that works with prisoners, sent an email on the pending execution of Stanley Williams. She wrote, “Tookie's pending execution is reminiscent of Karla Faye Tucker's execution in Texas (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karla_Faye_Tucker) in that Karla turned her life around while in prison, was most helpful and an inspiration to other troubled women, and the state of Texas killed her anyway.”

At the time of Tucker’s execution, George W. Bush was governor of Texas. To solidify his law and order credentials for the upcoming presidential race, Bush, a professed born-again Christian, refused to commute Tucker’s death sentence to life in prison. Tucker, a convicted murderer, whose early life was shaped by abuse, drugs and violence, turned her life around in prison. A born-again Christian, she was championed by an international effort to stop her execution; even members of the religious right petitioned Bush to save Karla Faye Tucker’s life.

Killing this woman elevated Bush’s status among his conservative base; politics sealed her fate. She died begging for forgiveness with a smile on her face. When later asked in an interview about her death, Bush mocked her with his trademark smirk.

Stanley “Tookie” Williams is the founder of the notorious gang known as the Crips. He has been on death row for 24 years. Williams is scheduled to be executed on December 13, 2005. Having turned his life around, the anti-gang activist has written 10 children’s books imploring young people to avoid gang activity. He has been nominated for the Nobel Prize. The movement to save his life is international.

Ironically, Williams’ fate rests in the hands of a Republican governor with presidential ambitions. The thousands worldwide that have signed the Clemency for Stanley "Tookie" Williams Petition at www.petitiononline.com/stw4804/petition.html hope California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger will act to save his life, join the majority in this nation and worldwide that believe these public killings, which masquerade as civilized proceedings, epitomize evil. Save Stanley and join the cry to end the death penalty.

Disgruntled says: With a wave of mighty dollars, Clark, Texas became DISH, joining other municipalities that have sold their identities to corporate entities. For Colorado-based Echostar Communications Corps, a town with its product name is advertisement for its Dish Network Satellite TV system. DISH Residents will receive free satellite equipment and service for a decade. This quid pro quo mirrors how our government is run. Big businesses and wealthy individuals wave dollars at public officials do their bidding, dishing out jobs to foreign workers, passing favorable legislation, cutting taxes for the rich and giving technology to foreign nations. Examples of quid pro quo abound in the Abramoff scandal; a more recent one lies in Bush’s trip to China. Forget human rights, democracy and China’s military spending, Bush’s sole accomplishment was an aircraft order for Boeing. He should have taken Boeing’s corporate jet and saved taxpayers some money.

Disgruntled feels: Uncertainty! As winter approaches, the need for shelter, food and warm clothing become more urgent. An unease and sense of uncertainty abounds for the victims of Hurricane Katrina that were ferried to some 44 other states. With permanent housing uncertain, many may be homeless come winter as FEMA temporary housing assistance runs out. This uncertainty about basic necessities casts an ominous shadow over holiday festivities.

Disgruntled wants to know: Lest we forget, in the months prior to the US-led invasion of Iraq, members of the US government warned of the dangers posed by Saddam Hussein. They were certain the madman possessed weapons of mass destruction. Given an opportunity, he would use them against the US, its allies and Iraq’s neighbors. Repeated warnings issued most famously by then-White House Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice claimed we could not wait for “the smoking gun that could come in the form or a mushroom cloud.” Vice President Dick Cheney repeatedly linked Saddam Hussein to the terror attacks of 9-11 long after most credible sources of intelligence debunked the assertion. The drumbeat for war was incessant. Now, they all want to blame the intelligence for the erroneous claims, when they deliberately chose the pieces of intelligence that fit their case for war. If we cannot call these people liars, because they did not speak the truth, then can we call them thieves for stealing the lives lost in this unholy conflict?

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