Living with war

“You can't get away from the topic of immigration nowadays. Here comes aging falsetto folk-rock singer Neil Young with a ditty in which he urges us to impeach President Bush. Sample: "Let's impeach the president for lying, / And leading our country into war; / Abusing all the power that we gave him, / And shipping all our money out the door . . ." You get the idea.

What's this got to do with immigration? Well, Neil Young is not a U.S. citizen. He's Canadian. He can't even vote. He's been in America for 40 years, and has never bothered to take out citizenship. And this interloper from the land of moose and Mounties is telling us to impeach our president! For goodness' sake. If it's not Mexican fence-jumpers trying to dictate legislation to us, it's fur trappers from the wilds of Ontario insulting our head of state. America's business is everyone's business, it seems.”

National Review
May 5, 2006
The Week
by the Editors

This hate sentiment towards Neil Young is the result of his last album "living with war" where he heavily criticizes Georges Bush, eaven calling for his impeachment.

This article perfectly echoes the neo conservator’s ideology: Xenophobic, racist and hegemonic. I liked how “the editors” described their two neighbors: Mexican fence jumpers and fur trappers from the land of moose and Mounties.

Well, indeed, America’s business is everyone’s business as long as this administration controls other countries and regions politics. The way the USA is governed clearly affects the whole world, since this administration appointed itself as the world’s police and sole governor.

Neil young, Born and raised Canadian lived 40 years in the U.S. Americans should be proud of Neil’s patriotic feelings towards the country he adopted. Instead he is kindly invited to watch and shut up:

On Fox News, host Mike Gallagher complained, "Neil Young is rich and famous because the country he's trashing made him so. Wouldn't his words carry a little more clout if he bothered to become a citizen of the country that made him rich and famous?"

Another Fox commentator, John Gibson, accused Young of disrespecting the memory of 9/11. Gibson suggested the singer take in a screening of United 93, not realizing, apparently, that Young paid tribute to the victims of that flight with his 2002 song, "Let's Roll." Toronto Star

But old Neil doesn’t really care about cons critics and it’s not really his habit to shut up. He is famous for his politically charged lyrics and his anti war activism: This is not the first time Young has disturbed the waters politically. "Ohio," a response to the killing by National Guardsmen of four Vietnam War protestors at Kent State University in 1970, was a hit for Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young that has endured as an anti-war anthem. Toronto Star

"I was waiting for someone to come along, some young singer 18 to 22 years old, to write these songs and stand up," Young told The Los Angeles Times. "I waited a long time. Then I decided that maybe the generation that has to do this is still the Sixties generation."

It is sad to hear Neil Young say that, as if the sixties generation is the only one that kept its mind free and lucid to fight for its right to express different opinions and not be submerged by main stream opinions. In this case: support our troops, support the war and if you speak against it then you’re not patriotic and do better shut up.

It is not completely true though, a few artists spoke up: Green day’s American Idiot, Pearl Jam’s world wide suicide, Life wasted, Army reserve are songs against the war in their just released album. While Ben Harper’s “Black rain” is a severe critic of the Bush administration management of Katherina’s aftermath while focusing on the war instead. A few spoke up, but not enough…

I still can’t understand how Georges W Bush got reelected, while clearly lying and misleading Americans to war on false reasons: Saddam Hussein’s Weapons of mass destruction, his ties to Al Qaeda, to 9/11 and sending troops to free the people of Irak. Intelligence reports can’t be blamed, cause’ it is clear as water that everything was planned. W is even still carrying these arguments in his speeches.

I am wondering what the quartet Bush family – Cheney – Rumsfled – Wolfowitz is preparing next. Did you hear W suggesting Jeb Bush to run for the next elections, saying he would be an excellent president!???

Everyone, not only Americans, should stick with Neil young’s plea:

"Don't need/No more lies"
"Don't need/No more lies"
"Don't need/No more lies"
"Don't need/No more lies"
"Don't need/No more lies"

A.