And today is the day set aside to celebrate our independence from Great Britain. No longer a colony of The Crown, we were free to be free in our pursuit for life, liberty, and happiness.

Fast-forward to today, and there seems little reason to celebrate a damn thing. Our freedoms are eroding ever faster into a nightmarish hellscape that has me seriously thinking that The United States of America has become a failed experiment. No longer is there separate of Church and State as we were designed to be, and Evangelical Christianity is the law of the land. The wealthy own our politicians and our existence is constructed to support their interests instead of the public good. Horrific decisions on how we live (and how we're being made to suffer and die) are made by a tiny minority and sold to people as a "good thing." Lies are truth. Truths are a lie. And nobody seems to give a shit.

It's all political games from here on out, and that's why we're so hopelessly divided and fucked. Maintaining wealth and power is all that matters.

One side is conned into worshipping their leaders like gods and supporting laws which make their lives harder... destroying our liberties. One side is conned into believing that their leaders will save them from evils, only to keep believing it no matter how many times it's found to be a lie... destroying our liberties. And it's all hate all the time, because it's easier to destroy liberty when you're distracted by hating "the other side" even though the commonalities between "sides" are numerous, and we're all more alike than different.

And so, no, I am not "celebrating" our freedoms and independence today. I'm celebrating a day off work.

While I still can.

Because Federal holidays are a hit to productivity, and our wealthy owners will likely be eliminating them eventually. And of course we'll be told that this is the best thing to ever happen to this country, and everybody will be smiling as they head out to their 10-hour-a-day, 7-day-a-week jobs while having no living wage, no health care, no housing, and barely enough resources to survive.

But there will still fireworks!

Because freedom!

It's hard for me to celebrate the psychotic wasteland that the United States of America seems to headed towards, but I do my best. Despite it all, I still love my country... or rather the potential of my country... so what else can I do?

Try to make it better, I guess.

Not so easy given the way things are, but since when is anything worthwhile easy?

   
If you're not registered to vote, now's the time you want to get on that.

In celebration of The United States of America on the occasion of her birthday, I can think of nothing more fitting than quoting the immortal words of a real American and one of the preeminent thinkers of our time... here's Sarah Palin on Paul Revere.

"He who warned... uhhhh... the... the British that they weren’t going to be taking away our arms... uh... by ringing those bells and, um, making sure as he’s riding his horse through town to send those warning shots and bells that we were going to be secure and we were going to be free and we were going to be armed."

Fuck yeah.

FUCK. YEAH!

Truth! Justice! Captain America!

You're a Wonder, Wonder Woman!

REAGAN, bitches! Trickle-Down America!

Jessiqa Pace... Land That I Love

Too... Much... America...

I Pledge Allegiance to America...

AMERICAN PAM!

'MURICA! from USA News First!

Fuck the Pepsi Challenge... take The America Challenge!

CHALLENGE ACCEPTED, COMMIES! And God Bless Holly Fisher

American Jesus (the ONLY Jesus)... Artist Unknown

America... One Nation Under God by McNaughton

BOSTON RED SOX AMERICA!... by Matt West, Boston Herald

AMERICA PIE TASTES LIKE FREEDOM by Max Faulkner, DFW.com

Stephen T. Colbert... The Spirit of America

"American Pride" (with Waffles the Cat) by Justin Schwab

Jordan Carver... God Bless America

Whew. That's a lot of America right there.

Which brings us back to...

Happy 239th Birthday to the United States of America... the best America ever!

O beautiful for spacious skies, For amber waves of grain, For purple mountain majesties Above the fruited plain! America! America! God shed his grace on thee And crown thy good with brotherhood From sea to shining sea! O beautiful for pilgrim feet Whose stern impassioned stress A thoroughfare of freedom beat Across the wilderness! America! America! God mend thine every flaw, Confirm thy soul in self-control, Thy liberty in law! O beautiful for heroes proved In liberating strife. Who more than self their country loved And mercy more than life! America! America! May God thy gold refine Till all success be nobleness And every gain divine! O beautiful for patriot dream That sees beyond the years Thine alabaster cities gleam Undimmed by human tears! America! America! God shed his grace on thee And crown thy good with brotherhood From sea to shining sea!

Happy birthday, you crazy bastard!