We live in a global village. Anything anyone says anywhere can be picked up and spread around the world in a nanosecond. It doesn't matter who Maines addressed her thoughts to.

Now that the Dixie Chicks are not on the radio so much, we probably have to suffer through zillions of plays of Greenwood's sappy American Hero song. Now that one I'll turn off every time. Much better to have Maine's edge and intellect than Greenwood's kneejerk patriotism.

I'm not planning to have the television on much during Dubya's War. I find all of the hashed and rehashed news that comes across during war causes a depression that I'd just as soon avoid. I certainly understand the old line "Wake me when the war's over," though that isn't my point. We'll all understand full-well what is going on without absorbing every ounce of coverage the networks can wring out of it. I'll wait quietly, and start reading closely again when the international charges of war crimes are filed against George W. Bush.

SRS