A British MP helped pass the al-Jazeera memo to a Democrat in the States, hoping to influence the 2004 election against Bush. The memo details how Dubya told Tony Blair he wanted to bomb al-Jazeera hq in Qatar, a nation friendly to the US. One would think Democratic leadership would speedily and happily use information like this. But no, in a mind-numbingly stupid decision, they decided it might help Bush…

Liverpool MP Peter Kilfoyle could be jailed for two years after admitting passing on secret details of George Bush’s threat to bomb al-Jaazeera TV station.

Now Mr Kilfoyle has revealed Mr Clarke told him of the memo’s contents. The Walton MP in turn passed them on to John Latham, a Democrat supporter living in California.

He hoped to influence the looming 2004 US election, but the memo was not revealed in the US because Democrats feared the revelation would be a vote-winner for President Bush.

What will it take for Democratic leadership to grow a spine? Videos of Dubya smoking crack with bin Laden while cavorting with 16 yr. old hookers? What WERE they thinking? Let me guess.They ‘thought’ (and I use the word ‘thought’ charitably), if we go public with this, then the neocons will scream that we love the terrorists and hate freedom and that would be very scary and we might actually have to fight, so let’s just slink back into our little mouse holes and pretend to be an opposition instead. Squeak, squeak, squeak.

The Democratic leadership is not the mainstream. The Democratic populace is way more engaged, outraged, and ready for action than their leaders. That’s the cruz of the Democratic dilemma, the disconnect between those running things in DC and the rest of the party. A conspiracy theorist might say this shows Dem leadership are Republican operatives, but I say it just proves the old adage, ‘never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.’

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Blair says West likely to sanction Iran

We’ve been here before. Made-up claims of WMD. UN sanctions.

Iran insists its research is for peaceful energy production only. But the United States suspects Tehran has ambitions to produce nuclear weapons.

The US "suspects" Iran might make nukes? "Suspects"? Therefore, it’s clear they have no actual proof. Past events have shown the neocons will happily make up shit so they can invade countries. This is just more of the same madness. And sanctions killed 500,000 children in Iraq. 500,000 innocent children.

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Why, you may ask, have I been saying Colin Powell is a chameleon? It’s because he so perfectly exemplifies what the recent Fugs song, "Chameleon", by Tuli Kupferberg, is about.

From the liner notes to the song (from their "The Fugs Final CD (Part 1)"

"Here’s Tuli’s position paper on the tune: The English clergy are paid by the state as well they should be. The Vicar of Bray was the legendary most famous survivor of that system. He served under Charles II, James II, William III, Queen Anne and George the First. And he of course changed his belief with every succession, to that of his new monarch, which was no more than right. And so he was successively Catholic, Anglican, High Church, Low Church, Establishment, Disestablishment, and then Antidisestablishment … And he was Tory, Whig & Jew … No, that can’t be right … At any rate here is our song dedicated to him and his many disciples timewide/worldwide."

In the winter, I’m a Buddhist
In the summer, I’m a nudist
In Jerusalem Talmudist
In Hell-Fire Club the crudest

Chameleon, chameleon

When Democrats are winning
Liberalities I’m spinning
When Republicans are panting
Racist slogans I am chanting

Chameleon, chameleon

With the Proles digging ditches
With the brokers plotting riches
& with God was quite religious
Here in Hell sunk where hot pitch is

Chameleon, chameleon

BTW, Kupferberg was in his late 70’s when he wrote that. He’s past 80 now. The Fugs, fronted by Ed Sanders and him, were about the first political protest group, emerging out of the Lower East Side in NYC in the early 60’s. They continue to perform and record. Their most recent, the "Fugs Final CD (Part 1)", was recorded in 2003, and is maybe their best ever. They are currently working on "The Fugs Final CD (Heh heh, Part 2)"

From their website:

The right wing of the U.S. would like to create an American Gestapo (i.e., a slightly meaner Patriot Act) and the Fugs are going to do their share to sing and shout in defiance at its right-wing sleazomorphs.
– Ed Sanders, November 2005

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MediaChannel, a progressive group of websites, has just introduced MediaVision. Now you have watch TV news and political talk on-demand from "the top 27 TV markets, plus CNN, MSNBC, Fox, C-SPAN, and other cable networks for free." Plus, here’s the kicker - it’s searchable by keyword and topic.

You can get an hour for free. A full feed is $209 a month. Not cheap, but this is a service no one else has (yet.)

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