Since The Dixie Chicks are a hick band from Texas, I find it somewhat amusing that their supporters flaunt their bigotry against rural and southern people. Rural folk produce the majority of America's food, a good bit of its manufacturing, and serve the lion's share of military enlistments. But, true anti-rural lefties never skip out on a good old fashioned redneck bashing. 'The Chicks' just offer another opportunity to jump in.

The McCarthy slander is directed toward country music fans that don't financially support their "free speech." If you don't buy Dixie Chicks' music because you disagree with their shrill political commentary, you're a fascist. That's the claim. And, it's a stupid and vapid claim.

I tend to avoid investing in music that has a message I don't like. For example, I don't listen to bands that are openly anti-Christian. Censorship, in case anyone has forgotten the definition, is forbidding speech you don't like. Once an artist openly berates a position I hold, I tend to avoid buying their condescension. That's another form of governance the extreme left don't like: free market.

I can call the president an idiot, and risk no government enforced penalty. But, what the Chicks did was attack a strong and emotional position their audience held, and then expected them to pay to hear more. It's likely many of their fans disliked the president's choice of action regarding Iraq, but also didn't care for the Chicks going to foreign soil to expose their ire.

The Chicks weren't put on trial, they weren't brought before a senate panel, and they weren't even told they couldn't continue to tour in foreign countries calling our president an idiot and painting Americans with whatever adjective they like. They just don't enjoy their ex-fans' financial endorsement. That's called freedom.

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