Entries from January 2007 ↓

Last week, President George W. Bush delivered a televised speech to the nation in which he attempted to convince the American people that more troops needed to be sent to Iraq in order to bring stability to that region, following the U.S. invasion three years ago, subsequent overthrow of Saddam Hussein, escalation of partisan religious and ethnic tension and complete breakdown of any semblance of order and government.

Not surprisingly, the words he spoke four decades ago, are just as appropriate now as they were then. Here is an excerpt:

Since I am a preacher by trade, I suppose it is not surprising that I have seven major reasons for bringing Vietnam into the field of my moral vision. There is at the outset a very obvious and almost facile connection between the war in Vietnam and the struggle I, and others, have been waging in America. A few years ago there was a shining moment in that struggle. It seemed as if there was a real promise of hope for the poor — both black and white — through the poverty program. There were experiments, hopes, new beginnings. Then came the buildup in Vietnam and I watched the program broken and eviscerated as if it were some idle political plaything of a society gone mad on war, and I knew that America would never invest the necessary funds or energies in rehabilitation of its poor so long as adventures like Vietnam continued to draw men and skills and money like some demonic destructive suction tube. So I was increasingly compelled to see the war as an enemy of the poor and to attack it as such.

Perhaps the more tragic recognition of reality took place when it became clear to me that the war was doing far more than devastating the hopes of the poor at home. It was sending their sons and their brothers and their husbands to fight and to die in extraordinarily high proportions relative to the rest of the population. We were taking the black young men who had been crippled by our society and sending them eight thousand miles away to guarantee liberties in Southeast Asia which they had not found in southwest Georgia and East Harlem. So we have been repeatedly faced with the cruel irony of watching Negro and white boys on TV screens as they kill and die together for a nation that has been unable to seat them together in the same schools. So we watch them in brutal solidarity burning the huts of a poor village, but we realize that they would never live on the same block in Detroit. I could not be silent in the face of such cruel manipulation of the poor.

My third reason moves to an even deeper level of awareness, for it grows out of my experience in the ghettoes of the North over the last three years — especially the last three summers. As I have walked among the desperate, rejected and angry young men I have told them that Molotov cocktails and rifles would not solve their problems. I have tried to offer them my deepest compassion while maintaining my conviction that social change comes most meaningfully through nonviolent action. But they asked — and rightly so — what about Vietnam? They asked if our own nation wasn’t using massive doses of violence to solve its problems, to bring about the changes it wanted. Their questions hit home, and I knew that I could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed in the ghettos without having first spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today — my own government. For the sake of those boys, for the sake of this government, for the sake of hundreds of thousands trembling under our violence, I cannot be silent.

For those who ask the question, “Aren’t you a civil rights leader?” and thereby mean to exclude me from the movement for peace, I have this further answer. In 1957 when a group of us formed the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, we chose as our motto: “To save the soul of America.” We were convinced that we could not limit our vision to certain rights for black people, but instead affirmed the conviction that America would never be free or saved from itself unless the descendants of its slaves were loosed completely from the shackles they still wear. In a way we were agreeing with Langston Hughes, that black bard of Harlem, who had written earlier:

O, yes,
I say it plain,
America never was America to me,
And yet I swear this oath–
America will be!

Now, it should be incandescently clear that no one who has any concern for the integrity and life of America today can ignore the present war. If America’s soul becomes totally poisoned, part of the autopsy must read Vietnam. It can never be saved so long as it destroys the deepest hopes of men the world over. So it is that those of us who are yet determined that America will be are led down the path of protest and dissent, working for the health of our land.

Read the full speech, “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence” here.

Happy birthday to me,
Happy birthday to me,
Happy birthday dear Bernie,
Happy birthday to me.

It’s not too late to send gifts.

*$7.05 state and local.

Needless to say, if I was dependent on picking football games for my livelihood, I might starve to death.

I went 1-3 in picking last weekend’s wild card matchups, and that one win—Seattle over Dallas, 21-20—was by the slimmest of margins, a shoestring tackle of Cowboy quarterback Tony Romo at the 2 yard line following a botched hold of a field goal attempt that would have won it for Dallas.

Otherwise, I was tossing snake eyes. Kansas City never got its running game on track and Indianapolis easily rolled to a 23-8 victory. The teacher, Bill Belichick, beat the pupil, Eric Mangini, as the New England Patriots took care of the New York Jets, 37-16. Finally, in an evenly matched contest between NFC east division rivals, the Philadelphia Eagles kicked a field goal with no time remaining to beat the New York Giants 23-20.

Although football season is officially over here in New York, some of us diehards continue to watch, so despite my success rate, I’ll keep guess…uh…predicting.

In Saturday afternoon’s first game, 12-4 Indianapolis travels to Baltimore (where the Colts originated) to face the 13-3 Ravens. Don’t expect a friendly reception or a repeat of last week for Indy. The Ravens have a more punishing rushing game, with Jamal Lewis, while their defense has given up only 12.6 points per game. They are physically intimidating. The Colts will have to try to score early and often to make Baltimore play catchup. Baltimore is 7-1 at home this season.

In the late game, 10-6 New Orleans hosts 10-6 Philadelphia. The Saints were 3-13 last season playing all their games essentially on the road following Hurricane Katrina. They are this season’s feel good story, having completely turned the franchise around under first year coach Sean Payton. Running back Deuce McAllister, QB Drew Brees and rookie running back Reggie Bush spearhead the offense.

But the Saints are playing in only their 6th playoff game in the club’s 40 year history (they’ve won only once) and have had a two week layoff. They remain an enigma. While the Eagles played six days ago, they seem to be peaking at the right time. They are 5-3 on the road. Jeff Garcia has taken over at quarterback in the absence of injured Donovan McNabb and the Eagle offense is utilizing new and different options. Brian Westbrook leads the team with 1217 yards rushing. My heart says Saints, my head says Eagles.

Sunday, Seattle (9-7) at Chicago (13-3) on paper looks to be a Bears win. But you never know which Bears team will show up. Chicago QB Rex Grossman has raised more questions than Alex Trebek with his uninspired play and absence of leadership. (He acknowledged he hadn’t prepared before their Week 16 drubbing by Green Bay.) The defensive secondary is also susceptible to giving up the big play.

Seattle is the defending NFC Champion and despite the injuries that have plagued them all season, certainly should have learned something from last season’s march to the Super Bowl. They’ll need big games from walking wounded QB and tailback Matt Hasselbeck and Shaun Alexander respectively to force Chicago to come from behind.

Finally, while I have picked San Diego to win it all this year, and I will stick by that prediction until proven otherwise, Sunday’s contest against the always dangerous Patriots could be the hardest game to pick. Charger coach Marty Shottenheimer has a losing record in post season play, but comes into this game with the NFL’s most successful team (14-2), most effective rushing, LaDainian Tomlinson, and hottest QB, Philip Rivers.

But the Patriots are always dangerous and have found enough weapons offensively to arm Tom Brady. While not as potent as during their past Super Bowl winning seasons, they can still put points on the board. The question is, can they stop the Chargers’ offense?

NFL DIVISIONAL PLAYOFFS
(My picks in bold; all times are eastern)

Saturday, Jan. 13
Indianapolis at Baltimore
4:30
CBS

Philadelphia at New Orleans
8:00
FOX

Sunday, Jan. 14
Seattle at Chicago
1:00
FOX

New England at San Diego
4:30
CBS

Conference Championships

Sunday, Jan. 21
NFC Championship Game
3:00 pm
FOX

AFC Championship Game
6:30 pm
CBS

Super Bowl XLI — Dolphin Stadium (South Florida)

Sunday, Feb. 4
AFC Champion vs. NFC Champion
6:00 pm
CBS

New York City is awash in jazz musicians, jazz fans and jazz news this week.

First, some 8,000 educators, musicians, industry executives, media and students from 45 countries are in town through Saturday for the 34th Annual Conference of the International Association for Jazz Education.

The four-day conference will feature a 75,000 square-foot music industry exposition, commission premieres, technology presentations, research papers, award ceremonies, and performances by over 500 of the world’s most respected professional jazz groups and musicians. In addition, a number of top school groups from France, Denmark, Australia, United Kingdom, Israel, Kazakhstan, Canada, and the United States are scheduled to perform.

On Friday, January 12, the IAJE Conference will host the 2007 National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters Awards Concert. Beginning in 1982, and every year since, the NEA Jazz Masters Award has been conferred on a handful of living legends that have made major contributions to jazz. Recognized as the nation’s highest honor for the field of jazz, the award to date has been given to 87 great figures in American music. The awards concert will feature performances by The Dizzy Gillespie All Star Band, under the direction of Slide Hampton, and the Clayton Brothers Quintet.

Jazz fans that can’t be there in person can hear on-site reports and interviews with musicians by listening to Newark, New Jersey-based jazz radio station WBGO, either locally or over the Internet.

Had you been listening this morning, you would have heard the announcement that Wynton Marsalis, the Artistic Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center and the musical director of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, will be taking over as host of the center’s syndicated radio program, “Jazz at Lincoln Center Radio.” The weekly broadcast heard on over 240 public radio stations, had been hosted for 14 years by newsman and jazz fan Ed Bradley, who passed away last November.

Finally, Lincoln Center was the site earlier today of the unveiling of a new United States Postage Stamp honoring the “First Lady of Song,” Ella Fitzgerald. The new 39-cent stamp bearing her likeness becomes the 30th in the Black Heritage commemorative series, which includes among others, James Baldwin, Alvin Ailey and Paul Robeson, noted on these pages at the time of their unveiling. One of Fitzgerald’s musical collaborators on several truly memorable recordings, the great pianist Oscar Peterson, was also honored with a postage stamp in his native Canada.

How to Order the First Day of Issue Postmark

Customers have 60 days to obtain the first day of issue postmark by mail. They may purchase new stamps at The Postal Store Website at www.usps.com/shop, by telephone at 800-STAMP-24 and at their local Post Office. They should affix the stamps to envelopes of their choice, address the envelopes (to themselves or others) and place them in a larger envelope addressed to:

ELLA FITZGERALD STAMP
POSTMASTER
421 EIGHTH AVE RM 2029B
NEW YORK NY 10199-9998

After applying the first day of issue postmark, the Postal Service will return the envelopes through the mail. There is no charge for the postmark. All orders must be postmarked by March 10, 2007.

One hundred and fifty million Ella Fitzgerald stamps were printed.

The NFL calls it parity, but you can just call it mediocrity.

As they like to say, on any given Sunday any NFL team can beat any other team. That was true all season long with but a few exceptions, as no team seemed capable of running away with their division. The exceptions, the AFC West’s San Diego Chargers, AFC North’s Baltimore Ravens, and NFC North’s Chicago Bears, all won their divisions quite easily, but due in no small part to the weakness of the other teams in their division.

The NFC in particular, including the Bears and the other division winners, the Philadelphia Eagles, New Orleans Saints, and Seattle Seahawks, from the East, South and West respectively, was an up and down affair each week with even the better teams losing games against opponents they should have beaten. The Bears went undefeated through their first seven games, then inexplicably got trounced by lowly Miami, raising questions about quarterback Rex Grossman and their defensive secondary.

In the AFC, the Chargers were clearly the dominant team, and are my pick to not only win the conference championship but the Super Bowl. With the NFL’s Most Valuable Player in running back LaDainian Tomlinson, they posted the leagues best overall record at 14-2 and longest winning streak at 10 games.

This weekend marks the start of the second season, the playoff round, with four wild card matchups, featuring a number of teams that limped into the playoffs in just the final week. In keeping with my annual tradition, each week I’ll give my predictions on who will advance.

Despite having the better record, the Indianapolis Colts have historically done poorly in the post season, and I don’t see that changing this weekend. They were erratic down the stretch and their defense has been weak against the run, which is exactly what Kansas City is going to throw at them in the form of running back Larry Johnson.

Dallas and Seattle come in with the same 9-7 record, and while both teams are capable of winning, both teams are also capable of looking very bad. Cowboys coach Bill Parcells has warned everyone against anointing quarterback Tony Romo, and with good reason. Seattle may have an edge only because they are playing at home.

Sunday features two games between teams that play in the same division and thus have already faced each other twice this year. Both the NY Jets and New England Patriots of the AFC East, and the NY Giants and Philadelphia Eagles of the NFC East, split their two games this year, so these rubber match games are a toss-up. I genuinely think the Jets are capable of beating New England again, but I am picking the Giants over the Eagles solely because I am a Giants fan. I think the Eagles are the better team and have picked things up down the stretch. I hope I am right, but expect to be wrong.

NFL Wild Card Weekend
(My picks in bold; all times are eastern)

Saturday, Jan. 6
(AFC) Kansas City at Indianapolis
4:30 pm
NBC

(NFC) Dallas at Seattle
8:00 pm
NBC

Sunday, Jan. 7
(AFC) N.Y. Jets at New England
1:00 pm
CBS

(NFC) N.Y. Giants at Philadelphia
4:30 pm
FOX