SWAPPING SPITS

CASE-FILE SHARING

Well, we still don't have comprehensive, meaningful reform of our nation's anti-terrorist infrastructure, three years after 911. And we never will have real reform of the way Congress oversees all that. So, it's interesting that the United States Senate can focus on something as NON-critical as file-sharing in these times of crisis.

Even more interesting that the Republican majority, who never ever thought of protecting music-listeners and buyers against music industry rip-offs over the years (the real cause of music sales slumps), is now going after the listeners. By fixing prices, the music biz definitely stole actual $5, $10, $15, $20 bills from you, over and over again, for years. By file-sharing individual songs off crappy albums you would never have bought, you might steal potential pennies from them once in a while. So who are we going after? You.

Likewise, they never thought of protecting the artists who produce the music against the mafia-like music biz. $20 CDs notwithstanding, many of your favorite artists never saw much if any money from their efforts, even the big hits. And they still don't. Many of the greatest musicians in US music history have died without a dime to their names, because the record companies ripped off every last penny. Hey, no law against it, right?

Well, now the Repukelickins are writing a law to allow the same greasy record execs to go after your favourite file-sharing service, just as they wrote a law allowing the record mafia to go after you right in your own home. Conservatives object to the "trahl-loyahs" helping you to sue their corporate buddies for free, on contingency. But they want to help those same corps's armies of lawyers sue you. Don't forget, good buddy, the conservatives stand for the common man. Oh, wait, no, they stand ON the common man. Common mistake.



"Record industry sues fans for illegally downloading music from internet"

"U.S. Senate to Weigh Bill Targeting Web Song Swaps"

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WELL, IT'S 1-2-3, WHAT ARE WE FIGHTIN' FOR?

Don't ask Bush. He don't give a damn. Ask Rumsfeld. He says there was little or no connection between Saddam Hussein & Osama Bin Laden, or Iraq & Al Qaida. So, the war has nothing to do with 9/11. This on top of revelations that the WMD case was deliberately trumped up by Bush. What's left? Democracy in Iraq? Didn't Rummy just say that may not be achievable? Do the Iranian Shiite ayatollahs now running much of Iraq actually want a democracy? Or would they prefer a theocratic rump state, a virtual part of neighbouring Islamic fundamentalist Iran? That's what we're helping them build right now, actually. Unwittingly, or, in Bush's case, witlessly.

And how 'bout those Sunni's? They're Saddam's people, the former rulers of Iraq, still in control of the center of Iraq, including much of Baghdad, Fallujah, Sammara, Ramadi and Tikrit. The US invasion opened the door for an Al Qaida connection there that did not exist before, according to the US Secretary of Defense. See, Osama's a Sunni, too. Our invasion and occupation has inspired Sunni's and Shiite's from all over the world to commit acts of terrorism at home and abroad, and to join the fight against Bush's "Crusaders" in Iraq. Think they're fighting for democracy? Can you say "Taliban"? Can you say "witless," again?

Finally, there's the Kurds, in the north of Iraq. They could have been the one actual success story here: Relatively secular, yearning for freedom and democracy. Unfortunately, they don't have their own country to do it in --yet. Nor are they likely to get one: They're spread out over Lebanon, Syria, Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkmenistan; against some of whom they have been fighting for an independent Kurdish state for many years. Their struggle has been especially violent in Turkey, which has the largest land army in NATO, and is one of our few true friends remaining in the Muslim world.

Think we wanna piss the Turks off by helping the Kurds break away, or set up an autonomous state within Iraq, right on the Turkish border? Can you say Iraqi Civil War? How about Turkish Islamic Revolution, cuz that's what this could lead to. Determinedly secular since 1917, until our invasion of Iraq (with Kurdish help, but not much from Turkey, which opposed the invasion), Turkey has already elected a fundamentalist Islamic government. With our --say it with me-- unwitting help.

Jeez, what's left to fight for? Anything? Let's see... they've got rocks, sand, camels, figs, dates... OH YEAH, OIL!!! How many barrels is your son or daughter, sister or brother, husband or wife, father or mother worth, there, SUV fans? Drive on to victory with the Big Dubya! Eventually. After another thousand or two of our loved ones die, for oil, and nothing else.


"And it's one, two, three,
What are we fighting for ?
Don't ask me, I don't give a damn"


"Easy to cakewalk in ... not so easy to cakewalk out."



"I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-To-Die-Rag"

"Cakewalk to Baghdad"

"Donald Rumsfeld says no hard evidence links Saddam to al-Qaida, then"

"Al Qaida 'Duped Allies into Waging War'"

"Report: U.S. Ignored WMD Doubts"

"U.S. Report Finds Iraq Was Minimal Weapons Threat in '03"

"Insurgency in Iraq from Colin Powell-s point of view"

"Iraqi Premier Gives Sobering Account of Insurgency"

"Republicans Criticize Bush 'Mistakes' on Iraq"

"Cheney Gets the TKO from the GOP"

"Bremer Says U.S. Was Short on Troops for Occupation of Iraq"

"Poland mulls Iraq troop withdrawal"

"Kurdistana"


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IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM YOUR BLOGGERS:

Suggestion Box & Tip Jar We would like to make over this blog to make it easier to access, to read and to comment on. We would also like to serve our readers better by providing more of what you need and want to see. All serious suggestions will be considered. We hope to move to our own domain in the near future, and we would like to ask for your financial assistance in doing that, and in upgrading our hardware & software. Small one-time donations and larger long-term subscriptions are welcome. Exclusive advertising is also available. If you think we are wasting our time in doing all this, please let us know. If you wish to help us, now is the time. As always, negative bullsh*t from right-wing trolls will be sh*tcanned. Thank you to everyone else. Please send feedback & PayPal contributions to cosanostradamusATexciteDOTcom. Thanks.

SUPPORT OUR TROOPS: BRING THEM ALL HOME ALIVE, NOW!