"It," in this case being the use of the Twisted Sister classic "We're Not Gonna Take It" by GOP VP candidate Paul Ryan.

The band's frontman Dee Snider denounced Ryan's use of the tune thusly:

It was brought to the attention of the management today that Paul Ryan has been using tour client Dee Snider's composition "We're Not Gonna Take It" in his political campaign to become the Vice President of The United States of America. Dee does not support Paul Ryan. Accordingly, Dee has released this statement to Benjy Sarlin, campaign reporter for TPM in Washington, DC:

I emphatically denounce Paul Ryan's use of my song "Were Not Gonna Take It" as recorded by my band Twisted Sister. There is almost nothing on which I agree with Paul Ryan, except perhaps the use of the P90X.

As noted by MTV News, Ryan's "playlist just keeps getting shorter and shorter."

While the use of "We're Not Gonna Take It" by a political campaign is a no-brainer — it's catchy, everyone knows it, it's vaguely anti-authoritarian yet nonthreatening — Ryan's other musical favorites included a true head-scratcher. Ryan cited the highly political, truly anti-authoritarian rap/hardcore act Rage Against the Machine as being one of his favorite bands, which, what? Does he understand what words mean?

The band's guitarist, Tom Morello, made very plain his disgust with Ryan in a Rolling Stone column last week:

You see, the super rich must rationalize having more than they could ever spend while millions of children in the U.S. go to bed hungry every night. So, when they look themselves in the mirror, they convince themselves that "Those people are undeserving. They're . . . lesser." Some of these guys on the extreme right are more cynical than Paul Ryan, but he seems to really believe in this stuff. This unbridled rage against those who have the least is a cornerstone of the Romney-Ryan ticket.

Man, what type of world are we living in when a handsome young singer can't pack up his guit-box and head to the beach to lay a couple-three heartfelt pop tunes on a small crowd of admirers without the cops showing up and dumping all over the good vibes? I suppose it's the type of world we are all currently living in, even those of us who are Kris Allen, Arkansas's American Idol.

You see, Kris had the notion to head down to the pier in Santa Monica last night to perform for free, because that's how he does things because he's a good dude like that. He tweeted about it: "How bout the peir in Santa Monica? 8 pm. You...me...couple tunes...ocean breeze...birds pooping on us. It's gonna be great."

So right in the middle of a song, some beach cop showed up and stopped him and told him he had to have a permit. And then Kris, being a dude of exceedingly even temperament and good nature, tried to shake this cop's hand as a gesture of good will. And then the cop said, "I'm not shaking your hand. I don't shake hands with anybody" like he's just so tough and uncompromising in his role as a tough, uncompromising peacekeeper that he can't even touch the hand of some ragamuffin pier urchin. And get this: the cop was wearing shorts. Shorts! And he's gonna tell Kris Allen how it's gonna be!?! Kris Allen, who's just trying to have a nice little low-key get-together at the beach!?! Gimme a break!

And then Kris follows up the ridiculous incident with these tweets: "Thanks to everyone that came out. Had a good time. And to the people that just stopped...thanks for stopping. Btw I didn't mean any disrespect to other street performers out there. I respect them so much for what they do."

See? A perfect gentleman. Kris could teach that beach cop a thing or two about manners and how you should treat people.

• Lenny Francioni
• Ted Nugent recently compared himself to "a black Jew at a Nazi Klan rally."

Remember back in 2003 when Dixie Chicks singer Natalie Maines said something critical of George W. Bush and then seemingly everyone in the whole country music scene got their feelings really hurt over it and went bonkers and burned their albums and several of their shows were cancelled because how dare they criticize the President of the United States in a Time of War, and on Foreign Soil no less? A musician? Making political statements? Uh, the nerve!

I wonder if there will be a similar firestorm of condemnation for ol' Ted Nugent, who in the last few days has offered these bons mots about Barack Obama and pretty much all other Democrats:

* If Obama is reelected, Nugent said he will be "either dead or in jail by this time next year."

* The Obama administration are coyotes, and "if the coyote's in your living room, pissing on your couch, it's not the coyote's fault. It's your fault for not shooting him."

* This November, Nugent and his ilk "need to ride into that battlefield and chop [Democrats'] heads off in November. Any questions?"

* He's being persecuted, apparently. He told conservative radio host Dana Loesch "I'm a black Jew at a Nazi Klan rally."

Now the Secret Service doesn't always look kindly on threats to the President's life, and as such they'll be having a little sit-down with The Nuge, according to Business Insider.

It doesn't sound like Uncle Ted is sweating it too much, because as he told Loesch, "the Secret Service are my buddies. They work for me. I pay their salaries." Which some of them at least have been using for questionable purposes.

But alas, proving that most blowhards are also cowards, The Nuge told Mike Huckabee "I'm a non-violent guy, I don't threaten. I wouldn't waste my time threatening, I've never threatened anyone's life in my life. I will not threaten anyone's life. I certainly wouldn't threaten the life of the president, or anybody in public office, or anybody anywhere."

So I wonder what he meant when he said he'd be dead or in jail if Obama is reelected?

Of course, this is hardly the first time Nugent has suffered public verbal diarrhea. Here are some of his other observations, compiled by the New York Daily News:

On immigrants: "We should put razor wire around our borders and give the finger to any piece of shit who wants to come here." And also: "Foreigners are assholes; foreigners are scum. I don't like 'em; I don't want 'em in this country; I don't want 'em selling me doughnuts; I don't want 'em pumping my gas; I don't want 'em downwind of my life."

On Hillary Clinton: "This bitch is nothing but a two-bit whore for Fidel Castro."

On the Middle East: "We want to go to Saudi Arabia, man, and see if we can't get a four iron and knock people's laundry off the top of their heads. Wear laundry on your head and die, is the basic theme of the Damn Yankees [his former band]."

Here's a video of him telling Obama to suck on his machine gun. "Obama, he's a piece of shit, and I told him to suck on my machine gun. Let's hear it for him," Nugent says, gesticulating with his guns. "I was in New York, I said, 'Hey Hillary, you might wanna ride one of these into the sunset, you worthless bitch!'"

All this had me wondering whether his comments might have any bearing on his upcoming show scheduled for Fayetteville's Arkansas Music Pavilion on June 10. I haven't heard about any cancellations of his concerts. No radio stations that I know of have stopped playing his songs or organized rallies to burn his CDs.

I inquired with the Walton Arts Center to find out if they had any concerns about being associated with someone like Nugent.

Through a spokeswoman, the WAC issued this statement:

As an entertainment presenter, we take into account our wide and diverse audiences when booking shows. We provide a broad spectrum of entertainment that appeals to many different types of audiences.
Cancellations can occur for a variety of reasons, such as weather, sales or scheduling issues. There is no policy for booking or cancellation based on political opinion. We evaluate each act on a case-by-case basis and work with the performer and their management to make the best decision.

So what do you think? Is Ted a real threat, someone who might snap and do something violent? Is he simply exercising his First Amendment rights to free speech and everyone should just relax, because hey man, he's just an entertainer? Or is he simply a washed-up, flaccid, has-been butt rocker who says outlandish things because he knows that a) it gets him lots of attention and b) nothing else he's capable of will?

• Check out a NSFW X-mas tune from Brother Andy.

I know we're a day late and $0.50 short, but here it is anyway. From the "How in the Hell Did We Miss This?" files comes "Andytown Christmas," from Brother Andy & His Big Damn Mouth. It's sure to be a Yuletide classic for years to come. I know my mother-in-law loved it. Kidding.

Not recommended for: the workplace, squares, prudes and people whose favorite pastime is getting offended.

Totally recommended for: everybody else.