The US camp at Guantanamo Bay should be closed before it undermines the cause of democracy worldwide, a Foreign Office minister has warned.

The remarks by Kim Howells yesterday coincided with one of the most direct appeals yet by a high-ranking American figure for British support over Guantanamo Bay’s continued existence. The Attorney General, Alberto Gonzales, on a visit to London, said the that camp was lawful and necessary.

Mr Howells, the minister in charge of British policy in the Middle East, warned: “Our alliance with America is based on shared values. If those shared values are seen by the rest of the world to be terribly flawed that actually undermines the cause of democracy.

The best way to “save democracy” would be to impeach Bush and Blair, then indict the lot of them for war crimes. But it is illuminating that even the UK can no longer tolerate the torture policies of the neocons, even if their reasons for objecting appear to be more public relations, “what will the world think of us”, rather than based on any ethical or moral grounds.

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In five Vermont communities, a centuries-old tradition of residents gathering in town halls to conduct local business became a vehicle to send a message to Washington: Impeach the president.

An impeachment article, approved by a paper ballot 121-29 in Newfane Tuesday, calls on Vermont’s lone member of the U.S. House, independent Rep. Bernie Sanders, to file articles of impeachment against President Bush, alleging he misled the nation into the Iraq war and engaged in illegal domestic spying.

Sanders, currently a member of the House and at least nominally a socialist, will become the first socialist Senator when he is elected in Nov. His election is a foregone conclusion. He’s been in the House for years and enjoys huge popularity in Vermont.

Sanders issued a statement after the Newfane vote saying that although the Bush administration “has been a disaster for our country, and a number of actions that he has taken may very well not have been legal,” given the reality that the Republicans control the House and the Senate, “it would be impractical to talk about impeachment.”

Do it anyway, Bernie. Be the first. History will thank you.

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Before the blues arrived in the Mississippi Delta, it lived in the desert of Mali, West Africa, and was known by a different name.

The sound of Ali Farka Toure was like the DNA that proved the paternity of the music, a link between the people and places that claimed it as their own.

“I’ve stayed in the tradition, and they’ve evolved in exile,” he said of African American bluesmen who observers wrongly assumed had influenced his playing. “It’s very important that these musicians go back to Africa to see where the music comes from, because in that way they’ll find the origins, the roots of their music.”

Incredibly, African-Americans brought to the US as slaves managed to keep alive their musical traditions, and that music is what became the Blues. Willie Dixon once said, “the Blues is the root, everything else is the fruit”, and that’s absolutely true. Now it’s clear that the music of Mali was the root of the root.

“It’s impossible to calculate the importance of John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters and now Ali Farka Toure,” Bonnie Raitt, who played with Toure, told The Times on Tuesday. “He’s a giant.”

I read somewhere that American blues players who went to Mali were stunned to find that what they thought was indigeneous music to the US has been part of the culture of Mali for hundreds of years. Roots, indeed.
[tags] Ali Farka Toure [/tags]

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The SwiftSmartVeterans will be marching for peace from Tijuana to San Francisco this month.

On March 12, 2006 Fernando Suarez del Solar, Pablo Paredes, Camilo Mejia and Aidan Delgado will lead a coalition of the willing across a 241 mile quest for peace that aims at raising Latino voice of opposition to the War in Iraq. The March will run from Tijuana, Mexico all the way to The Mission district of San Francisco making strategic, symbolic and ceremonial stops along the way. The 241 mile march is inspired by Gandhi’s 1930 Salt March protesting British imperialism and will serve as a loud cry for an end to the bloodshed in Iraq.

Suarez lost his son Jesus in Iraq, and has become a leading antiwar activist. Paredes refused to board ship fot the Middle East and was kicked out of the Navy. Both are scheduled to speak at the ANSWER LA antiwar demonstration on March 18 in Hollywood. Suarez has spoken at several other ANSWER antiwar rallies, including Sept 2003.

The photos is of Gold Star mother Vicky Castro with a photo of her son, soldier number 1306 killed in Iraq, taken at Sept. 24 2005 ANSWER LA march and rally.

Here’s some good reasons to march.

The US ambassador to Baghdad conceded yesterday that the Iraq invasion had opened a Pandora’s box of sectarian conflicts which could lead to a regional war and the rise of religious extremists who “would make Taliban Afghanistan look like child’s play”.

Let’s see, the US created this mess by an invasion based on lies. Now that it’s all falling apart, oh heck, let’s blame “extremists.”

And get this, Cheney wants to start another war. He’s just stark raving mad, isn’t he? Since there’s still no meaningful dissent from Congress, Republican or Democrat, that means we the people need to make them act or replace them.

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