[MD] Free Speech

[ARLO J BENSINGER JR]

Speaking of American being the land of free speech... I learned today that New
Model Army (a British alt-punk band), a favorite of mine for years, were denied
visas to perform on the 2007 world tour for having a song on their album
"critical of the Iraq war". Oddly, the song that got them banned from entering
the US, "Bloodsports", sings of the war from a British soldier's perspective,
capturing the fear and emotion of being in a war.

Interestingly, this same band was denied entry into in the US back in 1986 for
having a song critical of the US, "51st State", a song about imperialism and
militias.

And since both of these denials come from republican administrations (including
the near-mythic Utopia of The Age of Reagan, I expect freedom loving
republicans to be even more outraged than I.