Since when did “great” become the enemy of “perfect?”

I’ve been pondering that thought since protest demonstrators sat-in in the office of Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), a Founder and now the Dean of the Congressional Black Caucus, and Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. The protestors, are angry that Chairman Conyers has not initiated impeachment proceedings against President George W. (for Worst in history) Bush, and his combination brain and gonads, Vice President Dick Cheney–also known as Darth Vader.

Get a life, protestors. John Conyers is a good man, and a great member of Congress, who deserves the respect and admiration of all Americans and all peace loving people on earth.

If you want to get in a lively conversation with lots and lots of opinions, just ask a group of music aficionados, “Who is the most important musician in Jazz?” So, I figured I was on pretty safe ground, when I wrote10 years ago, in a profile in Midwest Arts Magazine, that “John Conyers is the most important non-musician in Jazz.”

His contributions to American Classical Music are monumental; HR-57, the Act of Congress which proclaims Jazz to be an “American National Treasure,” and The American Classical Music. Of course there is the annual CBC Jazz concert which he has sponsored and hosted for more than two decades during the CBC’s Annual Legislative Weekend, and much, much more.

When I told Rep. Conyers about the quote he responded, “what do you mean non-musician?” He reminded me of the bass violin in his office, which he said he still plays. Nobody’s perfect! Continue reading →

It’s hard for me to fathom how people can hate so purely that their loathing goes well beyond the bounds of reason. But so it is, with those who want to see Mumia Abu Jamal executed. The former radio journalist and taxi driver was convicted in 1982, of the killing of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner, but Mumia has always maintained his innocence.

Now there is convincing proof that Mumia was right all along. On the eve of the publication of a new book by Mr. Faulkner’s widow, who claims in a new book that she knows Mumia did it, a series of photographs has been discovered and released recently in Philadelphia, adding even more proof that Mr. Abu Jamal is innocent.

We’ve known all along that the jury pool was tainted, stripped of Blacks, that he was framed by a police force, a prosecutor, and a judiciary tainted by racism. But now, these pictures, by freelance photographer Pedro Polakoff taken the night of the shooting, prove that the conspiracy to blame Mr. Abu Jamal began that night at the crime scene, according to Mumia’s supporters.

“These photos effectively refute key elements of the prosecution’s case. And clearly, one picture is worth a thousand words, this is irrefutable evidence,” Linn Washington, a Temple University journalism professor and a member of Journalists for Abu Jamal said in an interview. Continue reading →