A friend sent me this link under the heading "What Natalie Maines Should Have Said". He's an old gaming buddy, and I love him like a brother, but ... well, I just couldn't let this go unchallenged.

But now, thanks to the thousands of angry people who want radio stations to boycott our music because criticizing the President is unpatriotic, I realize it's wrong to have a liberal opinion if you're a country music artist. I guess I should have thought about that before deciding to play music that attracts hypocritical red necks.

I also realize now that I'm supposed to just sing and look cute so our fans won't have anything to upset them while they're cheating on their wives or getting in drunken bar fights or driving around in their pickup trucks shooting highway signs and small animals.

I am so sick of hearing spoiled millionaire celebrities going on and on, at great length and at high volume, from podiums and front pages, concert stages and talk shows, in every medium and every venue that you can think of...

...about how they're being silenced.

We're not talking about the right to speak your mind. They obviously can still say whatever damnfool thing pops into their heads, without let or hindrance. Nor are they being deprived of a forum in which to express themselves; their opinions are still solicited by People magazine, Barbara Walters, and the usual starmaker-machine crowd -- now more than ever.

We're talking about the right to remain popular -- and to continue to make huge amounts of money based on that popularity -- after saying unpopular things. But there is no such right.

So they sell a few millions fewer CDs, and get only half as much air-time. So what? Their fans, or ex-fans, are free to take their business elsewhere, for whatever reason they see fit. Popularity is not constitutionally protected.

So they're being criticized. Again, so what? That's life in the political arena, and if the Chicks have the right to speak their minds, so do their critics. Freedom of speech is for everyone, not just celebrities.

The Dixie Chicks -- poor, downtrodden victims of repression that they are -- are still in the top tenth of a percent of the population by income. Even if their musical careers ended altogether as of now (not likely), they would still be rich beyond the dreams of avarice, able to lead the rest of their lives in astonishing luxury and privilege.

As political repression goes, that doesn't suck.

By comparison, Fidel Castro, just last week, summarily jailed nearly a hundred independent journalists and human rights activists; most were given sentences of twenty years or more.

And the penalty for criticizing a certain other head of state (recently retired) was amputation of the tongue.

And the Chicks seemed to be okay with that. They might feel bad about it, but not bad enough to think anything should be done about it. Mutilation might be sorta icky, but a fifty percent drop in record sales ... well, that's a real atrocity!

Go to hell, Natalie.