Happy 4th July

I'll say happy birthday to America, drink a few Buds and launch bottle rockets with the best of 'em. But with the uncomfortable feeling that as a nation, our best years are way behind us. With unemployment figures the worst since the Great Depression, pay rates stuck at their mid-recession low with no sign of bouncing back and Paul Krugman warning that we're about to enter "The Third Depression" (where Bruce Lee gets to fight Kareem Abdul-Jabbar?), there's not much cause for celebration.

Seems to me that we're not so much celebrating independence from the British crown, but our continuing submission to the American corporatocracy that's been steering our governments, making us dumber and less engaged and generally raping working stiffs for generations. Oh well. Happy July 4th!