The free speech battle yet again....

Do you all remember the Dixie Chicks? You know, that band that bashed President Bush on foreign soil and then when they found out all their fans were pissed off and were destroying their cds, they started screaming "oh, we didn't mean to do that, you people just misinterpreted what we said!" Then, it got worse because Maines then claimed she apologized, but yet, didn't. She said she was sorry she said what she did at the time, but not sorry she said it period. Meanwhile, many country radio stations banned the Chicks from the airwaves. More fans hold "destroying" parties and roll over the cds with cars/trucks and even a steam roller. They don't get any air play. They appeared at their first award show after this incident and were boo-ed! How fitting. Then, all the Chicks screamed about how they had the right to free speech and how dare all these people limit their right to say what they wanted. Well, that's just it. No one limited their right to free speech. No one. People simply exercised their freedom of speech to respond to what the Chicks said. That's OUR freedom of speech Ms. Maines, something you were aparently to stupid to consider. Now, you have another opportunity.

According to a story on Foxnews.com from the AP, she's taking back that "apology" that she never really made. She goes further to say that "I don't feel that way anymore,...I don't feel he is owed any respect whatsoever." This is what she's actually said. So, the question now is, are we going to be allowed to respond to her, or is it going to be like before? See, before, when we responded with our freedom, the Chicks cried "not fair! Not fair! We have a right to say what we want!" Yes, you do, and so do we!

The Dixie Chicks new cd comes out on 5/23/06. The first single is "not ready to make nice." I personally plan on not buying it. For those that want to, feel free. But, if you don't agree with what the chicks say, don't buy the cd. Call, e-mail or get in contact with your local country station and let them know how you feel. The Chicks can say what they want about President Bush, but, we can say what we want about them. We have the choice not to buy their cd if we don't want to.

How Telling!

I recently saw Mission Impossible III. I was dead set against seeing it initially because of Tom Cruise's tirades against those who believe in anything other than Scientology. Not to mention his constant bashing of Brooke Shields for taking Anti-Depressants for her Depression. And lastly, his inability to tolerate anyone else's spiritual or medical viewpoints.

But, be that as it may, I went to this movie with friends. Now, I'm thinking that this movie was probably filmed at least a year ago, maybe two. Let me tell you, the story line was quite incredible. The basic plot is that China has a secret weapon (it never actually calls it a weapon, but such is indicated) called "The Rabbits Foot". Interestingly, an international arms dealer (of sorts) who is after this weapon in order to sell it to buyers in...guess where! THE MIDDLE EAST! Who'd a thought it?

Now, how does this tie in with our current head lines. Well, let's see. What two countries seem to have no problem with Iran having nukes. Now, let's say Iran really wants them for peaceful means. Ok, I suppose I could go along with that. That is, up until the point that Iran continues to threaten Israel by saying "we will wipe Israel off the map". So basically, Iran has no credibility with me. Oh, the two countries supporting Iran? China and Russia. And yet, in this movie, we have China as the ones in which a weapon will be sold to a Middle Eastern Country. Wow, I'm suprised they didn't just name Iran outright.

It appears that perhaps, this movie was way more telling about the future than we all would suspect.