Get Up, Stand Up

If there's a musical genre to save the world, it's reggae.

This realization came to me last night as the Mrs. and I were taking in YaMakaMyWeekend, an annual Quad Cities reggae festival. Somewhere between "Three Little Birds," "Get Up, Stand Up" and "One love," I remembered the force for social justice that reggae music -- specifically that of the late, great Bob Marley -- and the whole Rastafarian movement represents.

Easily dismissed as pot smokers, reggae musicians have an important place in the public conscience. Though I'm a fan, Shaggy didn't really advance the cause with "It Wasn't Me."

But when I return home to learn the Bush Administration is planning to define contraception as abortion, the hair on my neck rises.

Get up, stand up: stand up for your rights!
Get up, stand up: dont give up the fight!