In celebration of Independence Day I spent the morning deleting the fast-mutating worm which is attacking my mailboxes. I have been receiving a lot of them this week (all on the "[variable] sent you r postcard!" theme), but today it's amped up to a hundred or so an hour. Good times, good times...

But I also wanted to say something about the state of the country, and about the hope that America once embodied, the perhaps foolish and naive belief that the power of this nation is not found in its armies, or in its corporations, but in the spirit of freedom on which it was founded. When it comes down to it, though, I'm not feeling much of that hope right now. The system has become gangrenous, corrupt, bloated with partisan maggots devouring whatever they can and concerned with nothing else. As a nation we are content with our bread and circuses, deluding ourselves that the final failure of America's promise won't occur in our lifetime. We somehow elected corporate raiders to lead us, and they are rapidly looting our assets and discarding the broken pieces. It makes me sad and sick to think of it.

But I can't write anything of substance. The best I can manage is to take some small satisfaction that a few people like Keith Olberman still have the courage to speak truth to power. The video is ten minutes long, but if you can spare that much time, perhaps it will give you a little something to hold on to on this once joyous day.

Then go have a hotdog, listen to some Sousa, watch some fireworks, and nurture some small hope that one day America will manage to recover from this long, national nightmare.