Not sure what the fuss is all about.

First off, the USA has been going after folks for a long long time now for speaking against war etc. The Espionage Act of 1917 (dealt with a number of what were called unpatriotic activities) was used to throw a lot of peace activists and pacifists in jail during WWI, only to be pardoned after the war, Charlie Chaplin was hounded by the FBI for his left wing views, Mohammed Ali was jailed during the Vietnam war for not reporting for the draft...just to name a few...all to set an example....don't *)(*) around and toe the line...message is "if "they" go after such a high profile person, they will certainly go after me and you".

That same act was used against Elsberg (The Pentagon papers) too, unsuccessfully, and is what they are used against Manning and Snowdon.

Don't think though that dissing Bush

(and I really do believe that history will look on him a bit differently...it was really Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and Paul Wolfowitz who are the culprits---Cheney had so much power as a Bush family friend GW had known as "an uncle" as his life)

was the defining moment that got the Chicks in trouble. It was not like there was a pattern of anti government speech or that the Chicks were activists or had gone afoul of The Act

So I am inclined to believe it was the straw that broke the camel's back so to speak and that Marc has hit on the underlying reason for that back breaking straw.




If writing ever becomes work I think I'm going to have to stop