Dixie Chicks at a Crossroads (more detail on the F.U.T.K. t-shirt)

The Dixie Chicks were doing so well. Lead singer Natalie Maines had finally shut up, and the country artists had been cheered on their American concert tour for their music. Then came the prestigious American Country Music Awards in Las Vegas. The very mention of their name drew a chorus of boos from the crowd.

“Just so you know, we're ashamed the President of the United States is from Texas, lead singer Natalie Maines told a London audience in March. The Chicks took heat for that remark for weeks, so much so that they went on a ‘victim tour’ to attempt to garner sympathy from their fans. They cried on the ABC magazine show “Prime Time.” They sat for an interview that ran in the magazine Entertainment Weekly, and posed for an apparently heavily airbrushed nude cover shot with slogans transcribed all over their bods.

They claimed they were being harassed and threatened and released information that they would hire off duty police officers to protect them. The victim card was played then the Chicks then held their breath and opened their tour in Greenville, South Carolina.

It went well as those who paid to see the Chicks greeted the band with cheers and not jeers.

It continued that way for all of their tour dates. Folks who paid to see them generally cheered, the Chicks kept their mouths shut except to sing and their fans supported them.

Then came the prestigious Academy of Country Music Awards in Las Vegas. It started out poorly for the Chicks as hostess Reba McEntire joked about them in her open monologue twice to a howling response from their peers.

This crowd in Las Vegas seemed less forgiving as none of them paid to see the Chicks perform. At the mention of the Chicks name, boos scattered down from the crowd.

The big problem for the country music trio came when they were asked at the last moment to perform via satellite from Austin, Texas. Silence greeted the band in the Vegas auditorium as they were introduced. They played a tune that was broadcast on screen and as the camera zoomed in on lead singer and political commentator Natalie Maines you could see the letters F.U.T.K on her homemade t-shirt.

Most believe the T.K stands for Toby Keith, a country music superstar in his own right and singer of the very patriotic song “Courtesy of the Red White and Blue” (The Angry American.) It doesn’t take much to figure out what the F.U. stood for.

Toby Keith wrote that song after 9/11 in honor of his late father and it became an anthem for music fans that believed America had to defend itself after the attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center towers.

It was also a song that former POW Pfc. Patrick Miller sang to his captors while being held in Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Toby Keith even met Miller at his homecoming parade in Valley Center, Kansas and struck up a duet of the tune with the private. He then gave Miller his guitar from that day. It was a nice gesture by Keith, and fans appreciated it across America.

So once again, with her petty message to Keith, Natalie Maines gave the appearance of being ungrateful and unpatriotic.

Their name was then mentioned for entertainer of the year and the boos were thunderous. Presenter Vince Gill tried to quiet the crowd, but to no avail. This entire ceremony was a celebration of music and patriotism, and the Chicks were still perceived to be the exact opposite of that.

The show saluted the armed forces several times, including a standing ovation for three freed POWs of the Iraq war who were invited on stage. Pfc. Miller was there along with Chief Warrant Officer Ronald Young Jr. from Fort Hood, Texas and Spc. Shoshana Johnson, from Fort Bliss, Texas.

Johnson was shown misty-eyed as Darryl Worley sang his patriotic anthem for the soldiers “Have You Forgotten?”

The Dixie Chicks lost the entertainer of the year award to none other than Toby Keith, which pleased the Vegas fans. In fact they failed to win any awards.

Launch YAHOO! caught up with host Reba McEntire and asked her if she thought the Chicks' helped themselves to win back any support of the fans or fellow performers who were not happy with Maines' unpatriotic comment. McEntire made her opinion clear, “(It) didn't sound like it. I announced it, and it was a pretty big negative response. It was very, very bad. I don't think it's over.”

The Chicks have lost respect from many country fans, many country artists, and many people who had never heard of them. Maines’ vulgar t-shirt showed clearly that she learned very little from her statements, or doesn’t mind the loss of respect.

It will be amazing if Maines doesn’t once again slip up, make another foolish statement and cause her band grief from country music fans and her peers. These three women are very talented musicians, but they are losing quite a few would be fans with perceived anti-American antics. The Chicks are at a crossroads. They can make a stand and attempt to become a political and social force with their music, words and t-shirts to a select anti-American crowd. Or they can continue to be country superstars. If they choose the latter--time can heal this, if that’s what the Chicks want.

The Dixie Chicks lost the entertainer of the year award to none other than Toby Keith, which pleased the Vegas fans. In fact they failed to win any awards.

Hee, hee, hee.......... Haman comes to mind........

Esther 5:12-14
12. "And that's not all," Haman added. "I'm the only person Queen Esther invited to accompany the king to the banquet she gave. And she has invited me along with the king tomorrow.
13. But all this gives me no satisfaction as long as I see that Jew Mordecai sitting at the king's gate."
14. His wife Zeresh and all his friends said to him, "Have a gallows built, seventy-five feet high, and ask the king in the morning to have Mordecai hanged on it. Then go with the king to the dinner and be happy." This suggestion delighted Haman, and he had the gallows built.

Esther 6:1-14
1. That night the king could not sleep; so he ordered the book of the chronicles, the record of his reign, to be brought in and read to him.
2. It was found recorded there that Mordecai had exposed Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king's officers who guarded the doorway, who had conspired to assassinate King Xerxes.
3. "What honor and recognition has Mordecai received for this?" the king asked.   "Nothing has been done for him," his attendants answered.
4. The king said, "Who is in the court?" Now Haman had just entered the outer court of the palace to speak to the king about hanging Mordecai on the gallows he had erected for him.
5. His attendants answered, "Haman is standing in the court."   "Bring him in," the king ordered.
6. When Haman entered, the king asked him, "What should be done for the man the king delights to honor?"   Now Haman thought to himself, "Who is there that the king would rather honor than me?"
7. So he answered the king, "For the man the king delights to honor,
8. have them bring a royal robe the king has worn and a horse the king has ridden, one with a royal crest placed on its head.
9. Then let the robe and horse be entrusted to one of the king's most noble princes. Let them robe the man the king delights to honor, and lead him on the horse through the city streets, proclaiming before him, `This is what is done for the man the king delights to honor!'"
10. "Go at once," the king commanded Haman. "Get the robe and the horse and do just as you have suggested for Mordecai the Jew, who sits at the king's gate. Do not neglect anything you have recommended."
11. So Haman got the robe and the horse. He robed Mordecai, and led him on horseback through the city streets, proclaiming before him, "This is what is done for the man the king delights to honor!"
12. Afterward Mordecai returned to the king's gate. But Haman rushed home, with his head covered in grief,
13. and told Zeresh his wife and all his friends everything that had happened to him.   His advisers and his wife Zeresh said to him, "Since Mordecai, before whom your downfall has started, is of Jewish origin, you cannot stand against him--you will surely come to ruin!"
14. While they were still talking with him, the king's eunuchs arrived and hurried Haman away to the banquet Esther had prepared.

Esther 7:1-10
1. So the king and Haman went to dine with Queen Esther,
2. and as they were drinking wine on that second day, the king again asked, "Queen Esther, what is your petition? It will be given you. What is your request? Even up to half the kingdom, it will be granted."
3. Then Queen Esther answered, "If I have found favor with you, O king, and if it pleases your majesty, grant me my life--this is my petition. And spare my people--this is my request.
4. For I and my people have been sold for destruction and slaughter and annihilation. If we had merely been sold as male and female slaves, I would have kept quiet, because no such distress would justify disturbing the king. "
5. King Xerxes asked Queen Esther, "Who is he? Where is the man who has dared to do such a thing?"
6. Esther said, "The adversary and enemy is this vile Haman." Then Haman was terrified before the king and queen.
7. The king got up in a rage, left his wine and went out into the palace garden. But Haman, realizing that the king had already decided his fate, stayed behind to beg Queen Esther for his life.
8. Just as the king returned from the palace garden to the banquet hall, Haman was falling on the couch where Esther was reclining. The king exclaimed, "Will he even molest the queen while she is with me in the house?" As soon as the word left the king's mouth, they covered Haman's face.
9. Then Harbona, one of the eunuchs attending the king, said, "A gallows seventy-five feet high stands by Haman's house. He had it made for Mordecai, who spoke up to help the king." The king said, "Hang him on it!"
10. So they hanged Haman on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the king's fury subsided.

Wow! What a modern parallel!!

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