Chuckie Watch 104: Chuckie gits down on Dick Durbin

It had to happen.  Chuckie's done heard about what that there Dick Durbin feller said.

And Chuckie don't like it.

So Chuckie's done wrote him An Open Letter To Senator Dick Durbin (06/20/05).  Chuckie is outraged that Sen. Durbin don't understand that anything we do is okay as long as it's not as bad as Hitler:

Hitler? Well there’s one I remember, Senator. I remember seeing the newsreels of bulldozers pushing thousands of skeletal, naked Jewish bodies into mass graves like so much garbage. When’s the last time that happened at Guantanamo Bay?

Yep, Chuckie has him some high standards indeed.

I’ve been to Guantanamo. Have you? Or are you just taking some nameless person’s word for all the things you claim happened there?

Heck far, ole Chuckie played a concert down yonder.  So, shoot, anybody can see he knows much more about than all these here FBI agents and human rights groups and all that've been reportin' on thangs there.  Ah mean, everthang he saw during the concert looked just fine!

Somehow Chuckie works it in here that he ain't no Republican.  Nah, Chuckie says, "I vote for the person not the party."  I'm sure that's true.  Why, after Zell Miller's fire-breathing speech at the Republican National Convention last year, ole Chuckie said he thought Zell was a fine feller.  And Zell's a Democrat!

And I'm sure when Chuckie says in his Open Letter, "In [sic] guess it’s just the left wing of the Democrat party showing its true colors," that he don't mean that as a partisan statement or nothin'.

And Chuckie shares a nice little fantasy of his that involves the Senator maybe gittin' knifed and maybe tortured a bit before that:

Let me arrange a trip to Guantanamo Bay and you can see for yourself how the detainees are being treated. They could even put you in a cell for a while and you can have first hand experience and maybe they could even arrange to put you in one with one of the dear little darlings you’re so concerned about.

But if that happens, be sure you  don’t carry any sharp pointed articles into the cell with you.

These people play for keeps.

It's not entirely clear on that last line whether he means the prisoners or the torturers.

Chuckie wrote about his visit to Guantanamo in 2002: The Straight Scoop (dated only 2002).  Funny, I can't find anything there about his touring the facilities with human rights observers or interviewing prisoners in private settings.  He doesn't mention any Arabic or Urdu translators, either.  But I'm sure he must have had one along.

In fact, Chuckie wrote:  "We saw Camp X-Ray, where the Taliban detainees are being held[,] only from a distance, but I picked up a lot of what’s going on there from talking with a lot of different people."  I'm sure we can trust Chuckie's anonymous sources, don't you think?

But Chuckie may be a better reporter than some folks give him credit for.  I'm mean, he was dead right about this:  "The media is [sic] not tellling you the whole truth about what’s going on over there."

Although I'm not so sure he necessarily has the best sense for quality media:

Here I must commend Fox News for presenting both sides much better than the other networks. They are leaving the other cable networks in the dust. People like being told the truth.

Yep, how would we git Both Sides if it wudn't for FOX?

This also caught my eye in his report: "The kids [i.e., the soldiers at the concert] seemed to really enjoy the shows and especially liked 'This Ain’t No Rag, It’s A Flag' and 'In America'."

"This Ain’t No Rag, It’s A Flag" was one of Chuckie's more controversial songs.  Some folks thought the, uh, literary reference in the title and chorus to "raghead" wasn't necessarily in the best taste.  Even Country Music Television (CMT) wouldn't allow him to play it on their channel at a benefit concert for 9/11 victims.

But it was fine for the military to have him play it for the "kids" at Guantanamo.  Chuckie shares the lyrics with us in a letter reproduced by TruthorFiction.com.  (It's also available at Chuckie's Web site - Just to let you know (2001) - but the formatting on the first link is much better.) Here ares a few lines, starting with the chorus.   Think about the practices denounced by Sen. Durbin while you read these:

This ain't no rag it's a flag
and we don't wear it on our heads
It's a symbol of the land where the good guys live
are you listening to what I said

... We're gonna hunt you down
 like a mad dog hound
 and make you pay for the lives you stole
 We're all through talking and messing around
 and now it's time to rock and roll

 ... You've been acting mighty rash
 and talking that trash
 but let me give you some advice
 You can crawl back in your hole
 like a dirty little mole
 but now it's time to pay the price

... You've been pulling our chain,
we shoulda done something about you
a long time ago
But now the flag's flying high
and the fur's gonna fly
and now the whole world's gonna know

This ain't no rag it's a flag
old glory red white and blue
The stars and stripes
and when it comes to a fight
we can do what we have to do

I bet the line about "pulling our chain" was one of Lyddie England's favorites.  Also the one about "mad dog hound."

And the guy Sen. Durbin described being tortured had pulled out his own hair.  Kind of like "and the fur's gonna fly/and now the whole world's gonna know."  Yep, now the whole world does know.

I wonder if they used this song as one of those they blared at the prisoners at high volume for hours on end?