Yesterday morning, I saw an interview with the Dixie Chicks, and I was impressed by how smart they are. Then I saw the video for "Not Ready to Back Down" and was impressed yet again. Then I was cruising around YouTube and saw another interview with them, particularly with regard to The Incident, and you know what I did? I bought all their albums. All in one go. It's my Christmas present to me, and to them. Talk about some courageous women!

It's almost unbelievable that a flippant comment that should have gone more or less unnoticed turned into death threats. DEATH THREATS! Can you believe that? How "free" can America possibly be when an American voices an opinion in a lighthearted quip and gets death threats for daring to speak at all? I mean, the hate campaign that was waged against them was astounding, and very, very scary. What is wrong with Americans when they seem to be perfectly content to watch a group of musicians essentially be blacklisted and threatened because they excercised their right to free speech. You know that saying, "only in America"...

Oh, and don't worry, I like country music. Haven't bought a lot lately (been thinking about picking up some Keith Urban, though), but I definitely do enjoy it, and I'm certainly familiar with the Dixie Chicks (very talented women), so I'm sure I won't regret buying all their albums. Don't worry. You'll be hearing about it in this blog, I'm sure, the same way you hear about the Eagles and Weird Al Yankovic and Green Day.

Hey, someone on YouTube compared Green Day with the Dixie Chicks (apparently, musicians are all too stupid to have any valid opinions on politics, go figure). And I like both. Oh, no, does this make me a radical?!

I don't think I'm a radical. I am quite defiant, though, when I feel the need to be, and I'm willing to pay the price for speaking my mind. I guess that makes me unamerican. Which is okay, because these days, I'm Australian.