¦¦ Some years ago I asked my mother if she remembered first hearing about the start of WWII in 1939. She was 7 years old at the time, and said she did. She was playing outside, bouncing a ball against a wall, and heard another kid say the war had started. Tonight I was in Safeway buying some groceries, and while standing in line at the checkout, heard a staff member say, “We’re at war. Started about 20 minute ago.” She then began bagging my groceries for me. I’ll probably remember that moment for the rest of my life.
¦¦ The link to Michael Moore’s letter to “Governor Bush” is spreading through blogdom like a virus. But it’s a virus worth spreading.
¦¦ Of interest to me is the bashing being absorbed by Natalie Maines and The Dixie Chicks, after Maines’ comment at a recent concert in London, England: “Just so you know, we’re ashamed the President of the United States is from Texas.” Shortly after her comment made it to the shores of the USA, The Chicks issued a statement clarifying her earlier comment, and two days later, Maines issued an demeaning apology, most likely with the pressure from and the urging of The Chicks’ record company, as fans began steamrolling their CDs and country music stations stopped playing their music.
I give props to Maines for having the guts to speak her mind, perhaps unaware of the consequences, but having done so despite that. It’s unfortunate that she had to issue an apology that reads like she got a spanking and was sent to her room without dinner for being a bad girl. Oddly enough, on her website (or a website devoted to her, I can’t tell), is a different message: “To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public. ***Theodore Roosevelt***” Strong words, but words that do not seem to apply to the Bush Administration.
I think I will buy their new album.
