Absurdly Shining A Light On The Absurd
This Salt Lake Tribune photo show supporters gathered across the street from the federal courthouse after a morning protest march through the streets of Salt Lake City on February 28, 2011.
This is Tim DeChristopher, an economics student at the University of Utah on the day of the auction in Salt Lake City in December of 2008.
At the end of 2008 with George Bush’s presidency coming to an end, Bush and Dick Cheney wanted the BLM to get as much of our public lands into the hands of their buddies in the oil and gas industry. The BLM held an auction of leasing rights in Salt Lake City and Tim DeChristopher commenced to bid on lands to drive the prices up after seeing them go for a pittance to these oil companies. We’re talking a buck or two an acre! Soon, to his amazement he started winning a few. Bidder # 70 was a busy man, and when it was done and it was time to pay, he realized he hadn’t brought 1.8 million dollars with him to the auction for those lands. The BLM didn’t take kindly to that and so they took him to a back room to be interrogated. Long story short, he was arrested and charged with disrupting the auction.
Unfortunately, the federal judge, a friend of the Chairman of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Orrin Hatch from Utah, refused to let Mr. DeChristopher plead a necessity defense to the jury. And he was convicted.
Instead of being allowed to go home and get his affairs in order after sentencing, this non-violent offender and former-wilderness guide for troubled youth was treated like a dangerous fugitive and taken immediately to jail from the courtroom IN CHAINS!
For more information about Tim DeChristopher and what he's doing currently go to his website at www.timdechristopher.org/
For more information on the award-winning documentary "Bidder 70" produced by Beth Gage and George Gage, which won awards at multiple film festivals across the country, go to their website at www.bidder70film.com
Below is the You Tube audio to the song I wrote and produced to honor and support Tim. It's presented here for free for your enjoyment. If you'd like to support my musical endeavors, feel free to part with a buck and download it off Amazon or iTunes or CD Baby.
If you want to see what the march through the streets of Salt Lake City and the subsequent rally was like, check out this video from Alexander Ebert. It was an amazing day.
Below are pictures taken by Utah activist Deb Henry of the lands Tim DeChristopher kept off the auction block that snowy December day in Salt Lake City. After the attempt by the Bush administration to get these lands into the hands of oil and gas companies in a rushed fire sale, a federal judge, in a case brought by the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, and the U.S. Department of the Interior pulled back these leases and many never went back up for auction. Tim DeChristopher spent 22 months in prison for being right and saving these spectacular wild lands.
Below, Tim is visiting some of the parcels.
Now that you've seen the spectacular lands Tim was thrown into prison for saving, let's show ya how things work in Utah when it comes to environmental protection. Check out these photos from the great coverage from The Salt Lake Tribune.
This is San Juan County Commissioner Phil Lyman, who promoted and organized a ride through Recapture Canyon, a canyon that the BLM had closed to MOTORIZED access to protect the Native American ruins and archeological sites in the canyon. HORSES AND HIKERS WERE WELCOME IN THE CANYON, JUST NOT MOTORIZED VEHICLES. This is Mr. Lyman addressing the crowd before the ride, which took place just one month after the BLM backed down at the Bundy ranch in Nevada after facing armed resistance.
Below are some of the participants ready to commence the illegal trespass into the canyon.
This fella really needed to feel safe so he brought his assault rifle....
...even though sheriffs on horseback were present to protect them and watch the illegal activity while doing NOTHING to stop it. .
Below is Mr. Lyman hisownself.
And emboldened by the BLM backing down at Bunkerville as they faced 250 radicals with guns at his daddy Cliven Bundy's ranch just one month before, here's one of Phil Lyman's cohorts, Ryan Bundy, one of the "patriot actor" occupiers at the illegal standoff at the Malheur Wildlife Refuge in Oregon.
According to an October 28, 2015 story in the Salt Lake Tribune, 32 riders rode over eight ancient Native American sites and crossed the creek multiple times.
So what happened to these offenders who damaged artifacts and riparian areas in the canyon on their ride? Only four people were charged, and two people were convicted of charges and one of them, Commissioner Lyman, was sentenced to a fine and 10 days in jail. According to the October 28th Tribune story, "The government had initially sought $300,000 to cover actual damage to archaeological sites, but prosecutors backed down and settled on expenses solely related to damage assessments, plus $11,800 to stabilize rutted areas" The fine total for the two convicted defendants was $96,000.
Unlike land-protector Tim who was immediately hauled off in chains, Lyman got to decide when he would serve his sentence at the county jail. So he chose right after the April tax deadline so not to impact his accounting business. And the fine? One goofball Utah legislator Mike Noel proposed paying his fine with state tax dollars! Thinking better of that after hearing an uproar from Utah taxpayers, Utah's politicians threw down checks to support Lyman, including a reported $10,000 from Utah's Governor Gary Herbert, the former head of one of the most anti-environmental organizations in Utah.
So protect land, go to prison. Disobey the law and damage artifacts, and you get police protection, a slap on the wrist, and politician's contributions towards your fine.
And Commissioner Lyman is one of the few people who had input in the Public Lands Initiative bill introduced to Congress in 2016 by Utah politicians Rob Bishop and Jason Chapputz, which in reality is a land destruction bill, not a land protection bill.
It's sad that Utah's congressional delegation and state politicians are some of the biggest threats to some of the most spectacular lands in the world. Utah's population is less than 1% of the U.S. population, but these people want a disproportionate say in what happens to these lands that are owned by ALL Americans.
And to show just how delusional these people are, here's a t-shirt produced as a fundraiser for Lyman's defense fund, comparing Lyman and his illegal actions to the actions of Rosa Parks, Mahatma Gandi, "Tank Man" from Tiananmen Square and Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce tribe.
In 2003, Gail Norton, Interior Secretary in the George W. Bush administration, came to Utah and made what many referred to as a “back room deal” with Utah Governor Mike Leavitt. The deal prevented the Bureau of Land Management, the agency charged with caring for approximately 40% of the lands in Utah, from designating any wilderness in the state of Utah. She simply took that possibility off the table, regardless of how deserving those spectacular wild lands were. BLM lands like those in this photo I took from a river overlook at sunrise could never be protected with that designation.
The “no more wilderness” agreement flew in the face of Mike Leavitt’s call for “Enlibra”, his new environmental policy philosophy. “Enlibra”, we were told, was a new Latin word “invented” by the governor to describe a policy of inclusion, meaning all parties should be at the negotiation table with a spirit of compromise and listening with mutual respect.
This lampoon of “Enlibra” is sung to the tune of “Maria” from West Side Story.
Here's a song I wrote back in December of 2001 about the scandal that rocked the national and international committees that run a worldwide sporting event every four years.
Unfortunately, the people in charge of those games in the winter of 2002 had a fierce legal team "protecting" their "trademarks". I guess Atlanta was a debacle that way, so they were ridiculously vigilant here in Salt Lake. As if that "O-word" is not widely known and used. I went to a trademark attorney who told me they tried to get a 103 year-old water company to cease and desist using the name Mount Olympus Waters, as it was too close to the official "O-word". The fact that their company was named after a widely-known mountain in the Wasatch range didn't matter. She told me they'd be on my doorstep after they heard the song. And in fact, I went to the ACLU who told me I might just be breaking the law singing the song in public! Can you imagine? What happened to free speech? I wondered what Pete Seeger or Woody Guthrie would do. Well I KNEW what they would do, and that's I did. SING! SING THE SONG! LOUD AND PROUD! One day, I sang it in the cold outside of Sam Weller's Books on Main Street, one of the few retailers who had the guts to display and sell it. People laughed, and we had a good ol' time.
I also sang it at an open mic at Mo's Neighborhood Grill that was recorded by the Canadian Broadcasting Company, and they used the song as bookends to a long-form story on the scandal that aired on the radio throughout Canada.
I did find an attorney who said he'd go to bat for me so I proceeded ahead. But not many retailers and NO official games vendors would touch the CD 'cause it mentioned the "S- word". SCANDAL! New local leader Mitt Romney said to "incorporate the scandal" into the story of the games, but no one wanted to hear that.
Not until the trial was over did the song get much public recognition.
And what a day that was!
Here's a photo of me on the last day of the trial outside the federal courthouse shaking hands with Tom Welch, one of the two people Salt Lake leaders tried to hang for the debacle of their bid practices. The caption read "Tom Welch (L) shakes the hand of the "Slickrock Stranger", a street singer who wrote a parody song about Welch and the Olympic scandal before he entered federal court where Judge David Sam dismissed all charges against Welch on December 5, 2003 in Salt Lake City, Utah. Welch was charged with 15 counts in the olympic bribery trial."
Dave Johnson, the other fella they tried to hang, passed by on his way to the trial and asked if I was gonna sing him a song. His wife Kim had flashed a wry smile as they walked by as I had sent her a copy of the CD previously. I sure appreciated seeing that as I'd sent her the CD apologizing as I didn't want her to think I was pickin' on 'em. They were going through a lot of crap and certainly didn't need more. But the fact she was a news anchor on the station breaking the story did have an amusing twist I mentioned in the song. I told Mr. Johnson to go ahead and do his business in the courtroom and I'd sing for him when he got out.
Well, I didn't get the chance THAT day. The federal police came by and questioned me and ran my name through the computer to see if I had warrants. The TV stations, after seeing my reception from Messrs. Welch and Johnson, starting filming the encounter. The cop asked "So, are we gonna be on TV tonight?" I said "I don't know, pal. Guess that depends on you." Well, after not finding anything, he told me I needed to pack up and go because I did not have a permit from the GSA to be on the sidewalk singing. I told him then-Mayor Rocky Anderson welcomed artists on the street in Salt Lake City, but he said it was federal property, not city property. So I left.
Then I got a call at home from Rod Decker from Channel 2 news, who, after hearing I got chased in the morning, invited me to sing for them on Channel 2 on "the friendly confines of Main Street" in front of their studios. Who could resist? So I went down there and Rod actually joined me for a few verses live on the 5:00 news. Not many people can say they sang a duet with Rod Decker on live TV. But then again, probably not many would want to!
Then the next day, the Salt Lake Tribune ran a picture of Dave Johnson in his legal team's meeting room laughing while listening to my song. His friends later looked me up and I played at a celebration party they held at a local restaurant.
Here's a song how the coyote mascot for the 2002 games in Utah was killed due to the coyote bounty program.
February, 2002
STRANGE POSSIBILITIES NEWS SERVICE
Where Fiction IS Stranger Than Truth
OLYMPIC MASCOT KILLED?
Bluff, Utah : Reports have surfaced from San Juan County that Copper Coyote, one of the Olympic mascots for the 2002 Winter Games, has been shot and killed by a local rancher. A Colorado Plateau-area rambler known as "The Slickrock Stranger" said the death of the coyote believed to be Copper was the result of Utah's taxpayer-funded arrangement with the Utah State University Extension Service, which offers a twenty dollar bounty for the scalp and ears of any coyote in the county. The bounty was said to be claimed by Myopic Vision from San Juan County, whose age was reported as too old to remember.
"I heard the folks that shot him were real sad about the whole deal", the "Stranger" said. "But they couldn't see the Olympic logos on the marketing tag attached to him from 150 yards away. It's hard to tell the difference between a mascot and just a regular ol' predator coyote."
Reportedly, Olympic officials have quietly worried that Utah's predator policies and hunting practices would someday impact the mascot program, but due to the lack of marketable species that aren't hunted in the state, felt they would just have to take their chances with a coyote, a rabbit, and a bear. "This is a day we hoped would never come", said one official privately. "When the spring bear hunt ended in May, we were thrilled to find out Coal had survived. As far as Powder goes, he's being hunted right now and will be through the games in February, but there's plenty of snowshoe hares in the area and it will be easy to find a look-alike, so we're not too worried there. If the little guy can make it into February, security at the events will prevent hunters from getting a shot at him during his Olympic appearances."
There's been no word yet from Salt Lake organizers as to a replacement mascot. Some Olympic critics have suggested that given the history of the bid and eventual selection, a sheep, the species protected by Copper Coyote's death, might be an appropriate replacement. Others have suggested a fish, the Humpback Chub, noting it's protected status and long history in the state. It is not yet known whether SLOC will auction Copper's carcass on Ebay, as they did with premium tickets for popular events.
This send up of the Talking Heads classic is aimed at Utah Senator Orrin Hatch, who supported putting viruses in songs on Napster to create fear and thwart people from downloading from that site. Orrin is a recording artist hisownself of hymns and religious songs. As pointed out by several recording artists, the music industry and the Recording Industry Association of America were incredibly slow to adjust to the new realities of music marketing. Add to that the price collusion that was cited by the Federal Trade Commission in a May 10, 2000 ruling that said the big five major record companies, who some say are the controlling members of the RIAA, colluded to keep CD prices artificially high, costing the CD buying public as much as $480 million in just three years in over-inflated prices. It's no wonder people looked for different solutions to find their music.
Many don't know that the RIAA had a hand in developing rules regulating what could be played by a radio station that was being webcast, such as no more than four songs from the same artist over a three hour period. Community radio station programmers who were allowed the freedom to choose were especially impacted by this. Stations had to choose between increasing outreach worldwide, or succumbing to censorship of playlists.
And you're welcome for not posting a picture of Orrin Hatch for the photo selection.