Today is Dixie Chick Martie's birthday. Happy birthday Dixie Chick Martie. I don't listen to The Dixie Chicks, and I don't know which one is Martie, but that doesn't mean I can't wish her a happy birthday. Hell, it's a free country, right? I don't think she's the one who caused all the fuss with her "W" statement, but she took the assult that Clear Channel and country radio unleashed anyway. Guilty by association, but guilty of what? The Chick who spoke her mind was doing just that. Springsteen came to their defense and made a great point: what was un-American was not the "W" statement, but how Clear Channel and country radio tried to blackball The Chicks for freely expressing their views. The Right missed that point altogether, but I'm not the sort of guy who gets into all that. Leave it to the great angry Steve Earle. He's got something to say, and he does an unbelievable job saying it. He's a great songwriter. I love his stuff. However, me, I'm not a political dynamo, just a jackass who sees the BS on both sides, and choses to write non-political tunes at the present time. I guess I see my place as one who should entertain, not inform. Maybe that's because all the answers aren't clear to me, I simply have opinions. And as my brother Richard says, "opinions are like assholes: everybody's got one, and yours stinks!" Wow, enough said. Happy birthday Dixie Chick Martie. Take care. Later, Butch