Weed on Willie's CD Cover Worries Right-Wing Wal-Mart Wonks

So, Willie's got a new reggae record out, and apparently its raising a stank in some circles because of the cannabis leaf that adorns its cover. In order not to "offend" those moral souls at (no snickering please) Wal-Mart who are stricken at the sight of a common plant, Universal Music has released Countryman with an alternative cover featuring a...palm tree.

My immediate thoughts:
1) I bet the record is very good, but not great, and in the end probably not that much of a deparature from a record like Across the Borderline, on which Willie covered 'non-country' tunes by Bob Dylan, Peter Gabriel, Paul Simon, etc. and dueted with Sinead O'Connor, among others. Great musicians can experiment with different genres and styles and make them their own. Willie doing reggae makes sense. In the big picture, reggae, like the sort of country Willie, Waylon, Cash, etc. perform, is just another type of folk music.

2) It's ridiculous that cannabis is still criminalized when it is a less harmful drug than alcohol. The sale and use of both substances should be legal, but regulated by the state. The state and corporations should not be policing what substances people ingest into their bodies, what music they listen to, or what texts they read.

3) The Wal-mart executives should become more sensitive to the hardships and suffering endured by the employees whom they exploit and stop trying to divert attention from their shady business practices by taking phony 'moral' stances on silly symbolic psuedo issues.

4) Smoke it if you've got it, Willie. Smoke it if you've got it...

5) I wish I could afford to attend the 20th Farm Aid concert in Chicago this year. In general, I'm no fan of arena shows, preferring more intimate venues, and wish the concert was downtown, in Grant Park, rather than the Tweeter Center. But I've never seen Willie live, and who knows how many shows the old outlaw has left in him. Plus, the concert goes to a great cause and Neil Young will also be performing. The last time I saw Neil was on the Horde tour during an amazing outdoor concert that continued in the midst of a raging Midwestern thunderstorm and a power outage.