Via Booman’s impressive compilation of recent anti-Dubya columns from cities large and small, I found this one from UT’s The University Star:
Several dozen fans showed up for the Dixie Chicks’ concert Sunday at the Frank Erwin Center in Austin. They hadn’t heard the trio had rescheduled their show, a result of slow ticket sales over lead singer Natalie Maines’ comments three years ago about President Bush. Back in 2003, before a concert in London, Maines spoke out against Bush and his planned invasion of Iraq. She said she was ashamed that Bush was from Texas.
Maines is one of the few public figures — politicians, entertainers and clergy included — who spoke out against Bush before the war. With the Iraq war spiraling out of control, Maines’ comments seem prophetic today.
Back before “Shock and Awe,” this chick stood up. Before “Bring it on” and “Mission Accomplished,” before Abu Ghraib and dog leashes on naked prisoners, she stood up. Before body armor shortages, this chick stood up.
Before 2,700 soldiers were shipped back in flag-draped caskets — caskets the Pentagon refuses media access to because they think we are too weak-stomached to witness — one chick stood up.
Before Cindy Sheehan’s son Casey was killed in Sadr City and Sheehan planted her lawn chair in a Texas ditch in August 2005 outside the president’s ranch, one chick stood up.
Before Rummy said “Stuff happens” and “You go to war with the army you have,” to explain lack of equipment for the troops and before Jessica Lynch’s rescue was exposed as a farce, this chick stood up.
Before Nicholas Berg’s beheading was posted on the Web and before two American contractors were mutilated and hung from a bridge over the Euphrates River, this chick stood up.
Before CIA agent Valerie Plame was outed because her husband wrote a New York Times editorial critical of the Bush administration’s rationale for war, Maines stood up.
Before the release of the Downing Street Memo that said Bush had planned to invade Iraq before Sept. 11, one chick stood up.
Before John Murtha, the hardened Vietnam War veteran and Pennsylvania congressman stood up against the war, one chick already had.
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Perhaps too often, we project our opinions onto our favorite actors and singers, thinking because we identify with them through their music or movies, that we also think alike. And when we discover our differences, we feel betrayed. Sorry, but these folks don’t owe us anything other than a good show or movie for the price of admission. And if they use that concert or movie as an opportunity to take a stand on an issue, then so be it.
The Dixie Chicks aren’t the first Americans to turn the concert stage into a bully pulpit. They follow a long line of singers such as Woody Guthrie, Peter Seger and Bob Dylan, who used music as a medium to voice their opinions. And don’t forget Mr. “Born in the U.S.A.,” Bruce Springsteen. He recently released an entire album of anti-war songs.
But keep in mind, Natalie Maines spoke out before Bush’s war. Polls today show that Americans overwhelmingly disapprove of the war, how it was presented and how it is being conducted.
The Dixie Chicks have rescheduled their Austin concert for early December. It’s doubtful the war and all the issues swirling around it will be over by then. And from the tone of their latest album, I doubt the Dixie Chicks will back down.
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