Desperado, oh, you ain't gettin' no younger
Your pain and your hunger, they're drivin' you home
And freedom, oh freedom well, that's just some people talkin'
Your prison is walking through this world all alone...

I don't know about you, but when I hear these lyrics, I naturally think of Michael Moore.

Well, that's the song Linda Ronstadt was dedicating to Michael Moore at a Las Vegas casino before they booed her offstage and the management had her escorted out.

Here's part of Moore's response, from his website:

I understand from the news reports I've read that, after Linda Ronstadt, one of America's greatest singers, dedicated a song to me from your stage on Saturday night, you instructed your security guards to remove her from the Aladdin, which they did.

One of America's greatest singers? Um.

What country do you live in? Last time I checked, Las Vegas is still in the United States. And in the United States, we have something called "The First Amendment." This constitutional right gives everyone here the right to say whatever they want to say.

I really am sick of assholes like Moore using free speech as an excuse for spouting bullshit.

Let's review how free speech works:

1) Yes, you have the right to say whatever you want (actually this is only partly true...you can't legally slander others, threaten the President's life, etc., so the First Amendment doesn't guarantee an absolute right to free speech...but close enough)

2) People who own book companies, movie distributors, or hotel casinos have the right not to give you money if they don't want to. This is not censorship, you jag-off...it's called "business".

If I stood in front of my company and waved a Nazi flag, and screamed "I hate Jews!", does my company have a right to fire me? But don't I have a right to free speech?

Well, yeah. I can continue to espouse my views, but my company is perfect within their rights to no longer give me money.

Moore was spouting this kind of crap when he was on book tour for Stupid White Men. I saw him in person at a Border's here in Dallas. He was talking about how his book was nearly censored...how millions of people almost didn't get to read it. Which is utter bullshit. His publisher decided they didn't want to publish it. That's not censorship. He could just as easily found another publisher (he did), or publish it on his website for the teeming throngs to read for free (guess he's a bit too much of a capitalist to do that, though).

Same with Ronstadt. The hotel wants to pay her to sing songs and entertain their guests. Does she have a right to start spouting her political views? Hell yeah. But they then have a right not to pay her anymore.

Desperado, why don't you come to your senses?
Come down from your fences, open the gate
It may be rainin', but there's a rainbow above you
You better let somebody love you, before it's too late.