Kid Rock and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. at the Center of a Walnut Creek Controversy

Amazingly, yes! It turns out that the two perform and appear in a rock music video, “Warrior,” which is at the center of a Walnut Creek controversy. If you’ve been to the Century 14 movie theater in downtown Walnut Creek lately, you’ve had to sit through this video, along with all those other ads, as you munch on your popcorn and wait for even the movie trailers to start.

The 2 ½-minute "Warrior," sung by Kid Rock (quickie ex-spouse of "actress" and Playboy playmate Pamela Anderson), is produced by the National Guard. It depicts images of: a soldier hugging his family goodbye; NASCAR guy Earnhardt, Jr., wearing a suit and driving a car emblazoned with the words “National Guard”; National Guard troops on patrol in tanks in villages that could be in Iraq or Afghanistan: National Guard troops blowing things up and breaking into a home to find a cache of weapons; one soldier kicking a soccer ball and sharing a smile with a young Iraqi or Afghani boy.

The Contra Costa Times reports that the Walnut Creek-based Mt. Diablo Peace and Justice Center is calling this video a recruitment tool and is demanding that Century 14 keep it off its screens. The Times says:

The group argues that the ads do not give an accurate picture of what it's like to be in the military, and that they seem to be directed at children. Military officials counter that the ads are effective in recruiting people who want to serve, and they have no plans to stop making them.

The military is "spending a lot of money with these very slick ads that don't deal a lot with facts — it's all image," said Rick Sterling with the Peace and Justice group. "We are not against the troops or the military; we are against the way advertisements are being used — it's propaganda."

It is not just that the ads run when children are in the theater, but that they seem to targets teens, Sterling said. Targeting children younger than 17 is in violation of the "Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child," which the United States signed in 2002, he said.

The Times goes on to say that the Peace and Justice Center "recently organized a small protest outside the theater, encouraging moviegoers to ask theater management to pull the ads. By the end of the night, they turned in more than 50 signatures asking that be done." The Times adds that "calls to the movie theater manager and to Century Theatre headquarters were not returned."

Click here to see or learn more about the video. And click here to read the Mt. Diablo Peace and Justice Center’s position on military efforts to recruit youth.

Finally, here are the poetic lyrics to "Warrior" that Kid Rock sings:
So, don’t tell me who’s wrong or right
When liberty starts slipping away
And if you ain’t gonna fight
Get out of the way
‘Cause freedom ain’t so free
When you breathe red, white and blue
I’m giving all of myself
‘Cause that’s what I do
And they call me warrior
They call me loyalty
And they call me ready to provide relief and help, I’m
Wherever you need me to be
I’m an American warrior
Citizen Soldier
I’m an American warrior