On the eve of the release of the decision from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals regarding the Napster injunction it look as if the RIAA has signed their secret weapon.

Yes, folks, Bob Dole has been signed by the wonderful Recording Industry Association of America so that he may act as a strategic advisor with their lobbying arm. Seeing as the RIAA is assuming that the real battleground against file sharing will take place on Capitol Hill they felt it necessary to obtain some experience and firepower of the Washington kind.

Bob made himself famous, sort of, when, in 1995, he accused the music industry of promoting such wonderful acts like Geto Boys and 2 Live Crew. His speech included such wicked admonishment of the industry by saying that they run "a culture business that makes money from 'music' extolling the pleasures of raping, torturing and mutilating women; from 'songs' about killing policemen and rejecting law."

In just a few hours we will know whether or not this is a smart move or not, as the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will release their ruling around 10am PST. The morning will surely be wacked on Napster with all these folks doing their last minute downloads like the hours leading up to Christmas.

"Oh my god, I forgot to grab Casualties by Red Delicious...I better hop on Napster and grab it before they're shut down!"

"No son, " the wise master replies to the young, uneducted kid, "you can always download music from them, and many other bands, on DMusic! No matter what the ruling is on Napster, DMusic will still be here! Muwahahahaha!!!"

Along with that old guy known as Bob Dole, it appears that the RIAA has hired a litany of other folks who have all kinds of experience in Washington. Chances are that all the RIAA really wants from these folks is to gnaw at their brains, well not literally, and obtain some much needed insight in maintaining their interests on Capitol Hill.

What is intriguing about these enlistees is that the majority of them come from the Republican camp whereas the RIAA generally does business with the Democrats. According to link(www.inside.com,Inside) information, of the $2.8 million in campaign contributions made by the entire recording industry in 2000, 74 percent were to Democrats.

Well...it will only be interesting from here on out now wont it?