(7/26/03) From Tampa Bay Online, an AP story that rumblings og
an Electoral Collge nightmare that should leave the
_resident's Brain (i.e., Rove) screaming in "mute
gastral agony" in a White House toilet...I was waiting
for a flight at the Nashville airport two weeks ago, I
went into the "Ernest Tubbs" music store, eased my way
past a few customers, asked for the Dixie Chicks and
laid both CDs available down on the counter for
purchase. The young blond woman at the cash register
handed me my change, smiled warmly and said, "Thank
you for your patronage." (But I am certain she meant
"patriotism." Yes, there is a deep and widespread
rumbling in the land. It has been rising and falling
since Fraudida 2000, and soon it may be deafening...
http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGA7X8CJJID.html
Haggard Single Critical of Media Coverage of Iraq War
By John Gerome Associated Press Writer
Published: Jul 24, 2003
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - A new Merle Haggard song
that's critical of the media's coverage of the war in
Iraq is garnering so much attention that it's being
rushed to thousands of radio stations around the
country, a spokesman for the country singer said
Thursday.
"We're mailing it out as we speak," Tom Thacker, vice
president of Hag Records, said of the song "That's the
News." "It's going to a broad range of stations."
Thacker said the song has generated interest from
media and fans.
"It's another one of Merle Haggard's social
commentaries," he said. "This time it's kind of
opposed to the tone of 'The Fightin' Side of Me.'"
That 1970 song was a pro-America anthem at the height
of the Vietnam War.
The new song chides the media for focusing on
celebrity news and the death of Laci Peterson and her
unborn child while fighting continues in Iraq.
Haggard sings, "Suddenly it's over, the war is finally
done/Soldiers in the desert sand still clinging to a
gun/No one is the winner and everyone must
lose/Suddenly the war's over, that's the news."
The song ends with the lines, "Politicians do all the
talking, soldiers pay the dues/Suddenly the war is
over, that's the news."
The single will be included on Haggard's new album,
"Haggard Like Never Before," to be released in
October.
Haggard's song strikes a different tone than two
recent country hits that supported war with Iraq:
Darryl Worley's "Have You Forgotten?" and Toby Keith's
"Courtesy of the Red, White & Blue (The Angry
American)."
It also follows a sharp backlash against the Dixie
Chicks earlier this year after singer Natalie Maines
made a remark about President Bush at a London concert
shortly before the Iraq war. "Just so you know," she
said, "we're ashamed the president of the United
States is from Texas."
Maines apologized for the phrasing of her remark, but
sales of the Texas trio's discs plummeted and some
radio stations banned their singles.
In an essay on Haggard's Web site, the singer writes,
"I don't even know the Dixie Chicks, but I find it an
insult for all men and women who fought and died in
past wars when almost the majority of America jumped
down their throats for voicing an opinion. It was like
a verbal witch-hunt and lynching."
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On the Net:
Merle Haggard: http://www.merlehaggard.com/
Posted by richard at July 28, 2003 02:01 PM