If I had a hammer

...I'd smash a couple of my CDs... Read this and you may want to do the same. That is, if you haven't already.

On a personal level, how many musicians and movie actors become activists and political partisans to justify and find relevance in their stardom, wealth and lives?

After the boredom of playing the same old song for the thousandth time to cheering 14-year-olds, these performers must feel a new self-importance and excitement at the possibility of personally persuading the key voters who depose one president and elect another – and at having President Kerry know this.

Fine, find relevance, go ahead. Give away your money to charity. Give away your royalties to good causes. Endow your hometown schools with a music fund with your moniker all over it. Run for office, if anyone will have you. Write, perform and record protest songs that will be remembered 40 years from now.

Chanting 'I'm anti-Bush' every chance you get is NOT being relevant. It does makes you look hateful and divisive. Why? Because your anger at the president is unfounded and if you just have to preach at your fans you shouldn't be telling them how to vote but encouraging them to vote period.

Being anti-Bush your raison d'être? Illogical. OK, so you think W stole an election? Get angry at the voting system, not W. You'd think he'd created it from scratch and forced American voters to use it. Besides, after 8 years of WJC, did you really believe that getting 4 more years with Gore would be a snap? 8 of the 14 VPs who have become president did so because the boss died. The odds were not in Gore's favor. Ever.

You think the USA mistakenly went to war? Get angry at Congress for having said yes to W. You'd think he'd just picked up the phone and ordered the entire US military to go kick ass on a whim. You guys did take civics at school, right?

Surely there's a hammer here somewhere...