What if US rockers were convicted of ‘hooliganism’ like Russia’s Pussy Riot?

The two-year prison sentence for the women of “Pussy Riot” has us musing about the political shenanigans of American performers.

Pussy Riot, you’ll recall, is the Russian band convicted of “felony hooliganism” for criticizing President Vladimir Putin in its performance of a “punk prayer” in the Christ the Savior Cathedral in Moscow in February. The episode – the women wore bright dresses and balaclavas as they lip-synched “Mother of God, cast Putin out” – lasted less than a minute before security hustled them away.

Would such a thing in the United States be considered “hooliganism” (a wonderful word bringing to mind European soccer fans and some congressional hearings)? If so, should that be a punishable offense in this country, and what would be an appropriate legal response?

Second Amendment Quiz

Let us consider some examples.

Former Metallica guitarist and Megadeth founder Dave Mustaine has called President Obama “the most divisive president we've ever had.”

Not only that, he’s become a birther, according to a Daily Beast report.

"I know he was born somewhere else than America," Mustaine told a Canadian television show. "How come he was invisible until became … whatever he was in Illinois?"

Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello writes in Rolling Stone that Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan (who claims to be a fan of the band) “is the embodiment of the machine that our music has been raging against for two decades.”

“Don't mistake me, I clearly see that Ryan has a whole lotta ‘rage’ in him,” Morello writes. “A rage against women, a rage against immigrants, a rage against workers, a rage against gays, a rage against the poor, a rage against the environment. Basically the only thing he's not raging against is the privileged elite he's groveling in front of for campaign contributions.”

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