Freedom in the Fog of War

I went to the water tonight to see the fireworks, but it was so foggy all we saw were the bottom tips of the explosions. Somehow, that was the most appropriate thing I could imagine. As a country, we don't have much to celebrate. We're a mere fizzle compared to the dream of what we could be, lost in the fog of war.

Americans are some of the most propagandized people on Earth. Watching the media, you'd think we're the best country in the world in every way. It just ain't so.

• Our health care is ranked 37th in the world, after such countries as Iceland, Morocco, and Chile.
• Our unemployment rate is ranked 47th in the world, behind Mexico and Uzbekistan.
• Our literacy rate is ranked 62nd in the world, behind Poland, Samoa, and the Ukraine.

Well, we should be behind the Ukraine. At least they KNEW when THEIR election was stolen. They respected their exit polls.

And what about our freedoms? Let's see.

• Americans are not free to travel to Cuba. Still. After forty-five years. Robert Kennedy tried to get the ban lifted after his brother's assassination but was overruled by George Ball in the State Department. Jimmy Carter lifted the ban in 1977, but Reagan quickly reinstated it when he came to office.
• Americans are not free to hear the truth about their history. TV and radio stations, newspapers and magazines, and even book publishing companies have longstanding relationships with the CIA in particular and the government in general that keep them from telling us what's really going on.
• Americans are not free to study forbidden science. Whole areas of science are now classified. We're told certain things can't be done, like defying gravity, but in fact black areas of the government have been studying ways to do that for quite a long time now.

So what exactly were we celebrating today, would somebody please remind me?

Oh yeah. Independence. The very thing we're currently denying the Iraqi people....