I stayed up late last night and watch >play on the CBC. Last night, they were discussing artists and whether it was their responsibility to make known their opinions (and mostly their criticisms) of politics and especially the war. Many of the artists there were American and we got to see Janeane Garafolo (comedian & activist), Michael Stipe (REM) and Michael Franti (Spearhead) speak their minds about what is happening in America right now. I really wish that you could see the transcript on the >play website but perhaps it will come up later.


After watching this, I began to think about my earlier entry about America and democracy and how I felt about the boycotting of things and today, I wanted to add to that. Sure. I believe that boycotting is an exercise in democracy but I also believe that should be a personal choice and not one that should be dictated by political bodies. Michael Franti (I am paraphrasing) said that one of his bandmate's mothers was visited by plain clothes military in the US and told that her son was behaving in an unpatriotic way. They also told her that his travel records were being monitored (and they were wondering why he had gone to Japan twice in one month), as well as his bank records and all sorts of personal information was being accessed. They added that this guy's sister was serving in Iraq. His mother told these people that her son was expressing himself artistically. They said that that was fine at one point but that things are different now. What the hell does that mean?

Is McCarthyism alive and well in America? What about where you are from?

That's it for today. Have a great weekend!