Hi Doug. I'm afraid we'll have to agree to disagree on this one! Cheers my friend. And not only that, I DON'T really like his singing, ha ha!

What I found remarkable about Belafonte's appearance was not his stance on the issue of the American Government's policies, or even Powell's complicity in it. After all, many folks are now starting to come out of the woodwork and take what is becoming less and less an unpopular (and dangerous) stand.

What knocked me out was the sheer improvised elegance and class with WHICH he expressed his opinion. His alluding to slavery times was tough AND probably very cruel (you could see that Powell was taken aback) but obviously there are a lot of good people who feel that way, but would not have the words to express it in the way he did.

This situation is absolutely consistant with own my politics......I feel that it is MUCH more important to hold your OWN side accountable when they come to power. I was very critical of Bill Clinton for allowing the opportunity of being a great President fly out the window, simply because of sheer recklessness and corruption. I've really tried to give the current President a chance, and so haven't jumped into any of the "Bush is an idiot" threads here. Over the last couple of weeks however I've been simply amazed at how he's been expressing himself. Repeating simplistic phrases over and over and over again like "we got 'em on the run" and "no place to hide", along with the "weapons of mass des...." and "gassed hissown people"..... He now appears to me to be a man who is incapable of expressing himself any differently than he did two days after 9/11. In "man on the street" interviews, private citizens appear to be parroting these phrases back, so I guess the technique works.

Belafonte apparently feels that Colin and Condi simply could NOT (in their hearts) support the current Republican response to 9/11, or other policies which he feels threaten the lives of poor people, not just in the States but throughout the world.

Personally I DON'T agree with everything he said....I'm a bit TOO cynical for that, ha ha! But the way the man spoke was an inspiration.

Cheers

Rick