When one of the Dixie Chicks said last week she was ashamed of George Bush, the blowback was immediate. “Country stations nationwide, responding to listeners, banned the group from their airwaves. One, in Portland, Ore., was encouraging listeners to burn Dixie Chicks concert tickets in public. By early this week, airplay for the group’s latest hit (ironically named “Travelin’ Soldier”) was travelin’ speedily downward. What to make of all this? The press is suggesting that the general public is finally ‘fed up’ with the nattering nabobs of negativism known as artists. In fact, this is a story that could only have happened in the country music world. That’s because country music is the embodiment of patriotism.”