Manufacturing Dissent

Rock and Rap Confidential writes that "the attack on the Dixie Chicks was a political maneuver no less calculated than the Watergate break-in." Phone calls urging radio stations to pull the Dixie Chicks from their playlists, it turns out, originated from Republican Party headquarters in Washington. And an alternative concert timed to draw crowds from the Chicks tour-opening show was organized by the Republican Party in South Carolina.

Earlier: Michael Franti's hip-hop band Spearhead has been under surveillance by the FBI for being part of the "resistance."