GOOD RIDDANCE, COMPACT DISCS

Y’know, about your cover story of March 29, “Govindan’s Brave New World” you forgot one important point: CDs suck. In almost every way CDs blow. Just because they were fashionable long enough ago that we wax sentimental about them doesn’t make CDs suck any less. I remember they were supposed to be an improvement on tapes because they sounded “truer” and were “indestructible.” Yeah, right. They scratch. They break. You can’t record on them. Jewel cases? Yuck. And let’s don’t even get into the digital vs. analog debate.

I feel bad for mom-and-pop stores like New World, but I feel good for all the rest of us who can buy, trade, share, sell, and steal music with ease on eBay, MySpace, BitTorrent, and P2P. This is perhaps the only area ever where a technological advance has actually made things easier and better for people of limited means and skills. Hey, I’d rather eliminate all recorded music so everyone would own and perform their own music, but until that day I’ll accept the Internet and celebrate the demise of the CD (and the record company to boot).

And, anyway, it sounds like New World could have survived as a music-themed curio shop if rents weren’t so ridiculous on Elmwood. I mean, the street was like a graveyard this time last year. Jeesh!

comment @ av daily

MCKINLEY HIGH SCHOOL

In regard to Buck Quigley’s story about a second teacher ready to confirm allegations of misconduct at McKinley High School under Principal Crystal Barton, and about Bartons request for immunity in exchange for her cooperation in the ongoing investigation of her school, Lloyd writes:

First, no immunity for Crystal Barton. The bawdy house she has lorded over at McKinley HS, and all that has taken place under her tenure, should be open to all investigations. If she is guilty of civil/criminal actions as a result, she should bear that responsibility in full.

Next, just put these things together…

■ Dr. Williams’s personal escorting back to school of those thugs who beat up a student and a teacher in their rampage, when they ought rather to be in an alternative setting or jail.

■ His mishandling of the basketball coach/Jayvonna Kincannon matter at McKinley HS.

■ His mishandling of the five-year-old kid being abused at PS 67.

…and you realize that the Buffalo Public Schools is in dire need of “adult supervision.” Instead of being a function of city/state government, a private entity should take over the administration of the school board.

SAVING SANKOFA

Does Stepping Stone Academy ring a bell? Stepping Stone made changes in the end, too (“Saving Sankofa,” Artvoice v7n14). None of the other charter schools rallied to help that school.

See, the very nature of charter schools in Buffalo is based on money, power, connections, and survival of the fittest. Why is it that every “African-American” charter school that was introduced by African-American people has been closed down? Let’s face it, this town does not want a competitive African-American school. The closing of Stepping Stone and Sankofa forces the white schools to work harder.

You know and I know the very nature of this article was sympathy. It was written to send a subliminal message—they cannot do it without us.

The truth is the only person to blame is Sam Savarino. Why, he is a contractor that the school owes money. So his interest is simply the plaza and what he can do to boost his company. He has been there from the inception of the school and did nothing. Now when it is too late he wants the community to help. I am willing to bet that if you look at the teacher turnover rate you will find that at one point the staff represented its student body, now it does not. So the excuse was that it’s the black teachers fault. So the solution was fire them, and now it’s CSI’s fault.

At the end of the day, a message will be embedded into the hearts and souls of the children; we can’t do it without them. A child that has no model of excellence that they can identify with culturally will never seek excellence in order to improve their community, but will seek to improve that which is not beneficial to their collective cultural good.

Simply put, as a paper you have told the children that they only are worthy of a sympathy vote. The only people that this article benefits is those that are featured; they can place this in their portfolios under: “WE TRIED!” I am willing to bet that my comments will not be printed, but it is okay because I do not think the community is foolish. Besides this is just the Artvoice and you do all utilize impressionism quite well.

Dr. Anthony Murphy

Native of Buffalo, now living in Atlanta, Georgia

OIL SHOULD BE A UTILITY

Per a recent article (“Oil executives defend big profits”) by H. Josef Hebert of the Associated Press, “The executives of Exxon Mobil Corp., the nation’s biggest, and four other oil companies said they know fuel costs are hurting people, but they argued it’s not their fault and their profits are in line with other industries” and further “the executives were pressed to explain why they should continue to get billions of dollars in tax breaks when they made $123 billion last year and motorists are paying an average of $3.29 a gallon at the pump.”

This should make Americans ask the fundamental question: What is the difference between what a public non-profit utility company provides and what a private for-profit oil company provides? After all, they both sell energy to all United States citizens. The difference is that natural gas and electricity are sold in the form of a public good whereas oil is sold in the form of a private good. Accordingly, on the grounds of promoting national security, the United States Congress should convert all oil companies to utility companies. This would eliminate the windfall profits and force the oil industry to earn just enough income to cover operating expenses just as natural gas and electric utility companies are required to do. The resulting drop in gasoline prices would further stimulate the economy and lighten the energy stranglehold upon the United States by the Middle East. It would also eliminate the influence of the oil lobby. In this case, desperate times call for deliberate measures.

Joe Bialek

Cleveland, Ohio

GAZA CRISIS IGNORED

According to a report released in March by eight nongovernmental organizations including Amnesty International and Oxfam, the Gaza Strip is currently experiencing its worst ever humanitarian crisis since the beginning of the Israeli occupation in 1967, with over a million people—two thirds of the entire population—dependent on food aid. Over a hundred Palestinian patients have lost their lives as a result of Israel refusing permission for medical treatment outside of Gaza. This is in addition to the three hundred Palestinians—mostly civilians—who have died due to Israeli military strikes. To make matters worse, Gaza’s infrastructure is in a state of near collapse with reports in the international press speaking of, among other horrors, sewage systems breaking down, electricity deprived for days on end, agricultural output failing, and severe restrictions on the movement of goods and people alike.

No wonder a recent statement by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), states, “Gaza is on the threshold of becoming the first territory to be intentionally reduced to a state of abject destitution, with the knowledge, acquiescence and—some would say—encouragement of the international community.”

One wonders why coverage of this humanitarian crisis is conspicuous by its near absence in the US press, Artvoice included. Given the sheer magnitude of human suffering involved, the silence of the mainstream media should seem nothing less than unconscionable.

Dr Suhail Shafi

Buffalo

LET’S SETTLE FOR PEACE

On Saturday, November 15, 2003, the Buffalo News published a report. The headline was “Former Israeli security chiefs say current policies destroying nation.”

Four former chiefs of Israel’s powerful domestic service warned that the Israeli government’s actions and policies during the (at that time) three-year-old Palestinianian uprising had gravely damaged the country and its people. The four said that Israel must end its occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, that no peace agreement could be reached without the involvement of then Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, and that Israel must stop what one described as the immoral treatment of the Palestinians.

“We must once and for all admit that there is another side, that it has feelings and that it is suffering, and that we are behaving disgracefully,” said Avraham Shalom, who headed the Shin Bet seciurity service from 1980 to 1986. “Yes,” he continued, “there is no other word for it: disgracefully…We have turned into a people of petty fighters using the wrong tools.”

Shin Bet is Israel’s dominant security and intelligence service, with primary responsibility for the country’s anti-terrorism efforts.

The report is over four years old. What progress has been made? The Bush administration did little to address the most dangerous problem, namely the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, and got stuck in wars in Iraq and in Afghanistan, which has never been conquered—except by Aexander the Great in 327 BC.

The next president will inherit a gigantic set of problems. In Washington, DC, the Israeli lobby weilds tremendous clout. Most lawmakers ignore the question of justice for the Palestinians. To remind them, Arab terrorists attack us in Iraq, Afghanistan and America, and our ally, Israel, in the Middle East. The Israeli/Palestinian conflict led to terrorist attacks that killed innocent people, and to wars in which our troops are killed—at least 4,000 at last count, and 29,000 wounded, in Iraq alone. For what, and for whom, are our troops dying?

A two-state solution approved by the US and upheld by the United Nations is the only acceptable answer to the 60-year-old Israeli/Palestinian conflict.

Terence S. Underwood

Tonawanda