Thursday, August 05, 2004

If you're Whoopi Goldberg, you'd better not make a sexual play on words involving the president's surname. But what if you're a has-been country singer who's an anti-Arab bigot? Hey, no problem! In fact, you might even find that heavily Arab-American cities will invite you to perform:

DEARBORN, Mich. - Charlie Daniels, the man who wrote and sang "This Ain't No Rag, It's a Flag," is drawing heat from Arab-Americans who say it refers to a derogatory term used against them.

Daniels, 67, is scheduled to perform Saturday in Dearborn, the center of southeastern Michigan's 300,000-member Arab-American community.

After the Sept. 11 terror attacks, Daniels wrote and recorded the song, which became a country hit.

It begins:

"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?"

On Saturday, the Charlie Daniels Band will perform at the city-sponsored Homecoming Festival. ...


And Charlie? Actually, some of us do wear the flag on our heads.

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