Deserves to be seen
 

I know... it's been discussed to death. Probably no one will respond. But I think it deserves to be posted. And I say... Amen.

http://sf.indymedia.org/news/2005/12/1722697.php

Mitzvahpaloozah. As Obscene As They Wanna Be
by Beowulf Crow Sunday, Dec. 04, 2005 at 11:20 PM


What do Aerosmith, 50 Cent, Tom Petty, Don Henley, Kenny G., Joe Walsh, and Stevie Nicks have in common with a war profiteer and a 13 year old girl ?

On the day the President told the American people to prepare for the long haul in Iraq,
David H. Brooks, CEO of bulletproof vest maker DHB Industries, gave his 13-year old
daughter and 300 of her BFF, a $10 Million Dollar Bat Mitzvah recently on two floors of
New York's Rainbow Room.
And the aforementioned artists were hired to play.
(I'll get to that in a minute...)

David H. Brooks, CEO of bulletproof vest maker DHB Industries, earned $70 million in
2004, 13, 349% more than his 2001 compensation of $525,000. Brooks also sold
company stock worth about $186 million last year, spooking investors who drove DHB's
share price from more than $22 to as low as $6.50 (DHB was recently trading at $4.20.)
In May 2005, the U.S. Marines recalled more than 5,000 DHB armored vests after
questions were raised about their effectiveness. By that time, Brooks had pocketed
over $250 million in war windfalls.
(He made a tidy profit outfitting our nation's fighting men and women in body armor that
allegedly can't take a hit from a 9mm round.)

Sarah Anderson from the Institute for Policy Studies said, "It's shocking to see a guy who
has no shame like this. He many be the world champion war profiteer.
The shareholders are up in arms, and he's out partying."

Iraq war vets are angry too.
Paul Rieckhoff, an Iraq war veteran and founder of Operation Truth said,
"It is already disturbing that anyone can live the high-life as a result of the booming war
business, but it is particularly disheartening to hear about someone having their own
private Lollapalooza, in part from the sale of defective equipment that put our troops in
harms way. America must take a long, hard look at the idea of profit on the battlefield."

Bobby Yen, another Operation Truth Iraq vet said, "I guess it just goes to show the state
of affairs and the state of the mind of this tired, old veteran that when this story came up it
didn't even make me blink. So some rich guy somewhere who made tons of money
selling defective bulletproof vests to the military has a filthy rich party for his daughter's
Bat Mitzvah. 'Oh, wow, someone wants to endanger my life for a few bucks?' Sounds like
the entire war. So the soldiers get paid poorly, on occasion shell out their own few bucks
to buy gear, lose a year of their life, lose their sanity, lose their limbs, lose their lives,
and a very few, very select group closely connected to our government get very, very rich."

As taxpayers, we paid for this.
And I find this obscene, morally repugnant, and extremely offensive.
The fish rots from the head, and we're seeing more and more of the results.
(You know what I mean. Don't you.)

Now, ...onto the, ahem, 'Stars'.

Tom Petty was the MC. Did a set on acoustic guitar.
Aerosmith did a 45 minute set. (And got paid $2 million.)
50 Cent, ($500 thousand), performed only four or five songs - and badly - though he did
manage to work in the lyric, "Go shorty, it's your bat mitzvah, we gonna party like it's your
bat mitzvah." 'Fitty's' beefy bodyguards blocked shots of his boss performing and batted
down the kids' cameras, shouting "No pictures ! No pictures!"
(Hah !)
A witness stated, "Fitty and his posse smelled like an open bottle of Hennessy".

Don Henley and Joe Walsh teamed up with Stevie Nicks on vocals.
Henley was grumpy at the realization that he'd agreed to play a kids' party.

Kenny G, ($250 thousand), played while people drank cocktails.

At one point Brooks leapt on the stage with Tyler and Perry, who responded with good
grace when their paymaster demanded that his teenage nephew be permitted to sit on
drums. At another point, Tyler theatrically wiped sweat off Brooks' forehead - and then
dried his hand with a flourish.

To the artists --
I held many of you in high regard.
However, I have a big problem with you receiving blood money.
You gave tacit approval to horrific acts of greed by indicted criminals
that plunder our economy and cost Americans their lives.
As icons, you have a responsibility to your audience.
To watch you irresponsibly squander it by aiding and abetting these
war criminals reduces you to nothing more than cheap, (albeit expensive), whores.
To say that I'm appalled and disappointed is an understatement.
F**k You ! You Suck ! Byte Me !

To the obscene war profiteer putting our troops,
(And the New York Police Department, BTW), in harms way,
for your part in looting our country, and for all the despicable evil that you are,
...Everyone...REAL LOUD... BYTE ME !!!!!!!!

I agree - and I just find it surprising because Stevie has been so supportive of the troops who have gone to Iraq. Seems hypocritical to me.

(Yeah - whatever. Jump all over me. Tell me it was only a few thousand, and that the recall didn't put any soldiers at risk. I still find it capitalistic on her part - and hypocritical).

Guys, BEFORE this degenerates in to the big huge inevitable flame war that it's obviously going to become, I'd like to point out that there may be another side to this story, and we haven't heard that. This guy hasn't had a chance to defend himself - and I'd like you all to consider that maybe the people writing these angry articles have an agenda and aren't being completely forthcoming with the truth ( i.e. they are LYING. ) It's inevitable for a certain percentage of ANY war-related product to have to be recalled. He recalled a certain percentage of them and fixed the problem. And take a real close look at the way these "reporters" ( read: Internet bloggers with a hidden agenda ) are lumping this guy in with "Evil War Profiteers" as if he's sitting around with Cigarette-Smoking Man plotting the end of the world for his own fun and profit. He makes body armor - the ARMY approached HIM with a request to buy his product. He did NOT have some secret covert meeting with George Bush to cause the Iraq war to happen. He SOLD them the product they asked for, to their specifications, at the standard cost (making him very rich - that's the way the Defense Industry works).
Some problems crept up, he fixed them. And then spent his own money in the way he saw fit, which was to hire Stevie and the others. W/e, it's HIS
money, not "blood money." This is an EXTREMELY emotional issue, but try to separate that out from the facts, and try to read between the lines to see that these people have an agenda and are lumping him and Stevie in to a certain category without ACTUALLY giving you all the facts. And if you REALLY think about this, you may see that what these people are doing is actually rooted in jealousy, and in misplaced anger about the Iraq war. If we don't like the way the war is going or the reason it started we should vote for a new President the next time around, not take it out on some rich guy who provided our government with the product his company happens to make, or on Stevie, who provided her service (singing and spreading her magic, etc.) for the standard asking price.

OH-kay, I suppose the flame war can start now. I hope it pitters out pretty quickly and that there won't be too much carnage...

Thanks Ghost Tracker. Your words of wisdom and reason are greatly appreciated!:o

Actually, that's a very good thing to share. :shrug: Apropos, insightful, etc.
Obviously I think the guy is pretty heinous, but sadly, I don't have too much more to say. I just always try to check your posts. ;)
I am beyond finding Stevie hypocritical, really. Do I wish she hadn't done it? yeah, probably. But Stevie has never, ever, ever, struck me as political, or even thinking about politics, or anything like that. I don't expect her to take hard lines, and base her career on her political social beliefs, at least not to a huge extent. I've always thought of her as the girl who loves to perform, and may take up random causes and charities, and sing for them, but is a largely apolitical performer. :shrug:
In fact, I've always thought of Stevie as being very savvy as far as her career goes, and I've also thought of her as the kind of person who shoots from the heart, whatever whim her heart may have at that moment, but while doing so, always having an eye on not pissing anyone off. And I don't mean that in a bad way, I just think Stevie doesn't really, really, really care about the minutae of politics all that much. She's kind hearted, she's a good person, but above all she is a singer and performer, and I think that is most of what she cares about. So indeed I am pleasantly suprised when she does charitable things, b/c she's never given us any intimation that she is politically involved. And when she has sung for "causes", heck - I just get the feeling the girl likes to sing, and will do so whenever she can, and super bonus if it's for a cause. :)
And I think that's fine.
Remember, Stevie is the girl who can work with people, rock and roll guys, sing with anyone, and who was good with the media like no other band member was. She was the media darling, still is, and still works that way for the band and herself, as she always has.
She has people skills, and people skills don't always go with strong political stances. Besides the fact that I honestly believe she HAS few strong political stances.

Well, I probably should have added, it's just my honest opinion. :rolleyes: :shrug: :o

You just reminded me of this quote from Stevie about Robin, which is on inherownwords.com -

"It's the only friendship that I've ever had or... well, I'm not going to say ever will have. We just started out together at 15 years old. She kind of walked me through life. And, as I questioned would there be life after Fleetwood Mac, I certainly questioned would there be life after Robin. Then I found that there is life after Robin, except that it's not the same, not near as special. There's a spirit gone, and that's why I'm really dedicated to this leukemia [benefit]. That's why I will do anything I have to do to make as much money to get rid of this disease as I can because I would really never want anyone to experience losing someone as beautiful as her in this horrible way."




Yep. . . . .

Yeah. I think of Stevie as a "personal person" ie, if something touches her personally like that, she is more inclined to get involved. Which makes sense. Her lyrics are so personal and self absorbed that I wouldn't expect anything else.

wow -
that's really creepy.
creepy on many levels.
first and foremost - what the hell is stevie doing as paid entertainment for a bat mitzvah?

the blood money thing - yes i agree with that but i'm not the right person to weigh in because i feel that anyone who supported Bush in this war has blood on his or shoes too.
but that's another story.
the more important issue with this "gig" - is
why are smart talented musicians whoreing their talent out for this?
Yikes!
This was a really really bad PR move for Stevie and Tom. The rest of them have been screwing up over the years when it comes to reputations so I'm sort of not surprised.

Well someone from the Eagles board came over and provided evidence that Henley had sent all of his blood money directly to Walden pond fund.This doesn't totally absolve him of participation IMO but it does go a long way .I could care less about 50 cent and Aerosmith became a joke years ago IMO .Kenny G is so lame he's off the radar to me.Which leaves Tom and Stevie.I really hope someone can come up with information about what they may have done with their payola from this despicable event .

I was down in the streets of San Francisco protesting the immoral and illegal war the week it began.Of course Bush and co. pay no attention to what people in this city have to say, so they dismissed us as crazy Bay Area left wingers and maybe we are .Their problem now is much of the rest of the country has finally come around.Back to the topic .I would like to know what artists that I have spent thousands of dollars supporting over the years do with their payola from such a tainted event as this Bat Mitzvah .

Stevie has done alot more than the other artists who played this gig, for the soldiers. Her feelings on the war are pretty apparent from what she has said publically, reading between the lines and the several thousand ipods she bought with her own money and either delivered personally or had delivered to the injured vets. She obviously cares. I guess it is her ultimate responsibility to know whom she is playing a private gig for, in the future she needs to be completely aware how these people are making their money. Henley donated his. Stevie might have donated hers. Brooks is a creepy man who feels the need to flash around his cash. Insecure much? I hate the idea that Stevie played for and earned money from such a creep but considering I have no idea what she did with that money or whether she had the slightest clue about what Brooks was all about (I would bet she had no freaking idea whatsoever), I am not letting it cloud my opinion of Stevie. She has a huge heart.
I think the biggest surprise or shock from this private affair is Tom Petty playing. I never, in a million years, would have expected that from him. Stevie, eh, she has played private, corporate gigs plenty of times.

Don't worry, they don't pay attention to what people in their own backyard have to say, either. I went to the big pre-war protest in DC in January 2003, and that obviously didn't do very much good. Of course, there also just weren't that many people there, because at that point most people either didn't care or actually believed the bull**** they were being fed.

:) Thanks :lol:

I think you're on to something there; the connection between the two issues just probably never even occurred to her.

Even if Stevie is as political as a doorknob, she is still a human among humans and as such, ought to be aware of big issues, such as war and war industries affecting humans.

What makes me so upset is her "singing" out of both sides of her mouth:
visiting the wounded soldiers of this terrible war on the one hand, which makes ME think she IS in the know about human issues, and then turning right around and blatantly supporting one of the giants in the war industry, one who delivered defective armor on top of that!

Yup, makes me lose respect in a big big way. Which is it, Stevie? writing letters to, and visiting soldiers? Or supporting the war machine by hobnobbing with it's biggest economic benificiary?

Also: if Stevie were smart even if she didn't care personally ( I believe she does, but even if she didn't) she ought to have her staff check out these potential "employers" such as Brooks. Now, she's stuck with all the negative downfall. Bad move on all counts in my book, Stevie!!

Sasja