Support for troops follows complaints
by Derrick Ayres, Reporter

    "We're ashamed the president is from Texas."
    News of Dixie Chicks Natalie Maines' comment was followed by a media backlash against the Chicks.
    Radio stations pulled the Dixie Chicks from playlists at the requests of listeners in favor of a boycott.
     "I think they have to because whether the reason listeners don't want to hear the Chicks' music is misguided anger or not, they just don't want to hear them," Rusty Walker, a country music consultant, said.
     No one seemed to care that Maines apologized, as one can find only one area station willing to play the Chicks' songs and support their exercise of free speech.
     Too bad life does not come with a rewind button.
     Despite the Chicks' several PR blows, the brouhaha hasn't affected their sales.
     Many still boycott the group, but its Home album has moved up the charts. The CD is number one on the Billboard country music list, and Travelin' Soldier (a touching anti-war ballad) was the most downloaded song on the Internet March 31-April 6.
     I support the practice of free speech, but Maines' apology was a copout. She said something that she felt but, after the response, wanted to retract what she said.
     It is easier to withdraw than to explain your point of view.
     After media reactions to the Dixie Chicks, Michael Moore and Bill Maher, it is hard to muster the fortitude to say what one feels.
     If media will banish Maher from network television, boo Moore for his artistic achievement and bully the Dixie Chicks, what would they do to us? The media sift through facts and decide what is better for them or those stuffing their pockets.
     The media said Maines does not support our troops. Everyone supports our troops and wants a swift, safe return, but everyone does not support the idea of war. Everyone does not support our president.
     After seeing and hearing President Bush, I am upset and dumfounded.
     I am upset I never registered to vote. Though my one vote wouldn't have made a difference, I could say I did my part.
     This war waged on Iraq is based on the pretext of "nucular" weapons and liberation of the Iraqi people. We have seen how the Iraqi civilians have welcomed us, bearing gifts, car-bombings and what not.
     This is not a war about democracy; it is a war about popularity and publicity.
     Musicians, movie stars and other public figures should be as free to voice their feelings as you or I.
     Just because someone does not support our president, it does not mean he does not support our country; it simply means that he does not support our president.