Everyone in America has the right to speak his mind including the Dixie Chicks. (And Rush Limbaugh and Jane Fonda and...) But with celebrity what you say carries a lot of extra weight, and carries extra responsibility. When you say "I support the troops fighting overseas but the people who sent them there are idiots, and the war is unjust," you are telling those troops they are laying their lives on the line, and sometimes losing them, for no good reason.
    Comments like those of the Dixies hurt the men fighting overseas. It shouldn't be that way, and I wish it wasn't, but I can guarantee it is that way. (In case you haven't figured it out yet, I'm a Vietnam veteran.) There are a lot of people who absolutely disagree with the need for this war, but chose to shut up when the shooting started for that very reason. There should be no "but" after saying "I support the troops."
    I like the Dixie Chicks, they are pretty and they sing well, and I suspect the comments Ms Maines made should be labeled a Blond Moment. I suspect the truthful answer to "What were you thinking?" is "I wasn't."
    But there really are consequences to what you do and say, and if the reaction to the comment was over the top, it might be because the person who made it is larger than life.

O'Meara