1 Go ahead, admit it, Annika. From the Internationale to the Dixie Chicks, we lefties have ALL the good songs!

2 Pardon me, but when did the Dixie Chicks record a good song? I'm sure I'd have heard about this 180' change in their material. I mean after their mediocre (at best) cover of Landslide I'd hope they'd be repentent enough to do the right thing, but I had no idea it came to fruition. But other than the Dixie Chicks & Willie Nelson (now that's a performer with talent) I can't think of anyone in country music who is a lefty. But assuming you're talking quality rather than personal preference I'll see your Dixie Chicks & raise you one Lynyrd Skynyrd (yes I know they're not country but the southern rock genre is all but dead [Drivin' & Cryin' may have been the last band that came close - if you doubt me check out their song Honeysuckle Blue]& most people nowadays would label them as country rock). They may very well have been Democrats, but they were Southern Democrats & not lefties by any stretch. & any one of the Van Zandt brothers (or their back-up singers for that matter) had more talent in their individual lower intestines than the Dixie Chicks possess collectively going back a generation or two. Name one Dixie Chicks song that even comes close to the simplistic beauty of Tuesday's Gone or the odl time nuance of Things Goin' On. & how many people do you know that, 30 years after its release, will flick their bics in unison & sing along loudly (& correctly) to a Dixie Chics song being played instrumentally? & be thankful I don't call on the name of Bocephus or Merle or The Possum. Democrats they all may be but if they are it's a helluva lot closer to the Zell Miller kind of Democrat than the Kucinich kind. I'll grant that a lot of good performers & artists lean Democrat, but in the country & southern rock genres they are definitely in the minority. heh (when I say they may have been democrats I'm merely conceding the possibility that they may have been democrats. I have no idea as to their political leanings, except to note a few who are pro-Right to Arms or anti-Right to Arms.)

3 Many years ago, there was a summer where the frogs considered changing the lyrics of their anthem from the blood-soaked gore it has to something a little more friendly. I remember reading one submission that started, Oh, how lucky we are to be French! and the rest of it sounded like something written by Up With People. It might as well have been I'd like to teach the world to sing/In perfect harmony... Can you imagine the Nazis in Rick's Cafe hearing that? They would've laughed their asses off.

4 On another note, I've finally heard the tripe that is L'Internationale. Figures it was originally written in surrender-monkian. You can find a brief history of it, along with a circa 30's recording, right here.

5 Country artists against the war? I'll give you my three fave lefties, and their music cred is top notch 1. Emmylou Harris, quite simply a goddess. I love love love her. 2. Steve Earle 3. Lucinda Williams All listed at http://www.moveon.org/musiciansunited/