Think you're tough? You got nothing on Pussy Riot.

It's one thing to be some rapid Tea-Bagger and proclaim that the President "is this" or "abused that", because in this country we kind of enjoy dissent.  What's more, that which one person here dissents against another embraces as down-right wholesome.  It's part of the larger fabric of things we take for granted living in the United States.

Now go over seas and see what happens when you try and fight the system.  Like in a place such as Russia.  I don't know about you, but I get the distinct impression that Vladimir Putin...

(image from Wikipedia)

...would just as soon kill someone who he disagrees with than anything else.  Heck, having worked  for the KGB for years, I am reasonably sure that he actually HAS KILLED people for similar reasons.  With his bare hands.  While simultaneously rescuing a Tiger.  Or wrestling a Bear.  Silly?  Maybe, but this un-silly part here is that Putin doesn't seem to the kind of person who embraces the virtues of free speech.

Enter Pussy Riot.

If you've not followed the exploits of Russia's (now) most well known punk band, then you can catch up on your reading HERE.  Your average American or English hard-assed rock-n-roller has nothing on these ladies.  What's the worst thing that ever happened, for example, to Ozzy with his run-ins with the law?  What, he spent a night in a drunk tank or maybe a few days in the clinker for urinating on a Texas landmark?  Awwww, poor man!  Three of these ladies have spent time in Russian gulags.  No celebrity defense lawyers, no defendant-friendly courtrooms, no presumption of innocence for these ladies.  If it weren't for the fact that they have a following in the rest of the world, I am reasonably sure that some of them would be dead already...and that is NOT an exaggeration.

So the next time you see some tough-guy rapper or heavy metal biker dude, just remember that it's one thing to look tough (or, in the case of urban "artist" Chris Brown, act tough by slapping around your 96 lb supposed girlfriend), but it's another to actually be tough.  It's one thing to sing or rap about danger, it's another to actually put yourself in harms way...for a cause greater than yourself no less.  I truly admire these ladies.