Random Thoughts, Notes, & Incidents

"Is it the Fourth?" (Thomas Jefferson's last words, July 4, 1826).

Really. Is it? I love this holiday, but it gets harder and harder each year to admit it, or to celebrate it publicly. We have no idea yet what our plans for the day are. There's a community pot-luck b-b-q, but we haven't decided yet whether or not we're going.

How about something to make us proud to be Americans again? How about a New Declaration of Independence? I hereby declare myself independent of the propoganda and nationalistic jingoism that permeats our nation today. I hereby declare my brain a spin-free zone of independent thinking. I hereby declare myself independent of the mass media and pollsters. I hereby declare myself an adult, and able to make own decisions and still respect other independent adults with whom I disagree. I hereby declare myself independent of your opinion of me, whether positive or negative, particularly if you choose to question my love of this country just because I acknowledge that the president is a moron.

Of course, we'll also need a New Declaration of Dependence to go along with that. We hereby declare that we are a community of individuals who are dependent upon one another for security, comfort, entertainment, commerce, and a healthy debate on the future of our country. We depend on each other to help raise our families, and take care of us when we're no longer able to do so ourselves. We depend on each other to respect our diverse opinions and realize that vigorous, open, public debate is the base upon which our democracy was built.

To give you some time to think about the above, I've added a new page on my site for your quiet contemplation.