I know Brian is a fan of Toby Keith and his politics (I am not). But it's disappointing to read Brian's arguments against the Bill of Rights and freedom of the press.

I am not familiar with Brian's own brushes with the media, so I won't comment on them. I have less sympathy for the blowhard Keith, who's made a career out of his reputation as a flag-waving, tough guy musician.

Keith claims he never sassed or got schooled by Kristofferson in front of a number of witnesses backstage at a Willie Nelson 2003 birthday concert, as reported in Rolling Stone.

http://9poundhammer.blogspot.com/2009/04/kristofferson-kicks-toby-keiths-ass.html

If that's true, Keith should file a libel suit against the magazine, which would allow his lawyers to subpoena all of the backstage witnesses and require them to tell the truth about what happened under penalty of perjury. Even if he wasn't awarded damages, Keith would be able to restore his tough-guy reputation if the witnesses backed his story.

Of course Keith would have to risk being exposed as the one who's telling lies about what happened backstage if he were to sue for libel, a risk he's obviously not prepared to take as long as he can cuss and fume, deny it happened and bully reporters at press conferences to make his point.

I'll never lead the rooting section for the corporate mainstream media -especially after it set aside even the pretense of objective reporting during the lead-up to the Iraq War by serving as a bullhorn for government propaganda - but I'll defend the Bill of Rights and freedom of the press, for without them, we can hardly call ourselves free men and women.

Even a Tea Party member would probably agree with me on that.



Write from your heart, not what you think others want to hear.

https://dansullivan2.bandcamp.com

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