Happy Independence Day, hopefully this won't be our last...

This independence day, many more thoughts have come to our minds than the usual happiness of a day off of work and spending time with family and friends. The media, as well as our government have been drumming into our heads things like patriotism and nationalism more than ever. We have heard things like "be thankful we're free from those evil terrorists," etc. While I thank God I live in the "most free country on Earth," we still have more work to do than ever. Right now as we speak our rights and freedoms are being taken away in this "war on terror."

The word "freedom" and the word "independence are two terms that go hand in hand. We will see these words everywhere. Marshal Fields "freedom blowout bash," the U.S. military's "operation enduring freedom," in which we drop bombs on Afghan civilian weddings and call it "collateral damage." Language is definately and interesting concept. We sat at our barbeque's, fireworks shows, or parades. We waved our flags. Perhaps we are having events all weekend long. However, if you are still munching on your burger and slurping down beer...while you were at that parade screaming "these colors don't run" (Orwell could not have put it better in the two minutes hate), ponder these thoughts...

Six counties of Ireland are still not free. They are currently under British rule.

Somewhere a Palestinian child who is not a suicide bomber is having his freedom taken away by the IDF.

Afghani citizens are being bombed by U.S. warplanes. Those people are not free from state sponsored terror.

There are still over 1000 people imprisoned in the U.S. without charges filed against them. They are being detained indefinately.

Somewhere an Israeli child is not free from the threat of a suicide bomber.

Vieques (Puerto Rico) is still not free from U.S. military operations.

Iraqi children are still not free from U.S. sanctions. Many are sick and dying as you read this.

Somewhere in your city a woman is not free from the threat of domestic violence.

Across the globe, over a billion people are not free from the threat of starvation.

Somewhere in your state, a child is not free from his abusive parents.

Thanks to the USA PATRIOT ACT, we are all a little less free from the FBI, CIA, ATF, local police, and a host of other organizations. The president can now deem whomever he wants a "terrorist" (whether a U.S. citizen or not) and take away their rights.

(speaking of mr. bush, he was quoted semi-recently as saying "my job would be alot easier if I were a dictator." how's that for freedom?)

There are millions of Americans in your own backyard that are not free from poverty.

Health care is still not free or even affordable for all U.S. citizens.

We are still not free from the influence of multinational corporations wqho are selling our lives for profit.

Speaking of those, we are not free from corrupt politicians who are bought and influenced by these corporations.

Education is still not free or even affordable for all Americans.

We are still not free from the influence of a media that is used as a puppet for corporate and military agendas. We may be free to say what we want, but that freedom is being surpressed in the name of war a little more each day.

All over the world people are opressed by the particular groups of people who are in power over them. All over the world people are not as free as they should be. While we may live in the "most free country in the world," we ourselves are taking away those freedoms, taking away our independence in the name of "fighting terror." If we stay the course that we're on now, there might soon not be any independence to celebrate.

Aaron Cynic (aaroncynic (at) yahoo.com)

no one is free when others are oppressed.