The world today...

[illusionofjoy]

Ted Rall has an article published elusively in The Stranger this week. Meanwhile, I received this from John Kerry's mailing list yesterday:

The Fourth of July is a time for family, fun and fireworks.

But something happened today that ought to remind everyone what this holiday really symbolizes -- the freedom that makes America great.

That's exactly what hangs in the balance now that Sandra Day O'Connor has resigned from the Supreme Court.

This is no small deal. Over and over, she was the Justice who cast the critical vote in 5-4 cases deciding the most important issues in our nation.

Here's our bottom line for the johnkerry.com community heading into the holiday weekend: we can never let her be replaced by a Justice who does not respect the right to privacy and Roe v. Wade, and who doesn't understand the freedoms protected in our Constitution.

So, this weekend, as you enjoy the Fourth -- take a minute to think about what it means, and come back on Tuesday morning ready to fight for our freedom. It's all at stake now, and we need to come together more than ever.

While Sandra Day O'Connor was technically a moderate conservative, I would like to note that there is a huge glaring stain on her career in the past ten years: she was one of the votes that put Bush illegitimately into office in 2000. Needless to say, this error in judgment - by her and all the justices who voted that way - will now help to put someone even more regressive in her place.

The United States is slowly going down the tubes, when it comes to being a bastion of "liberty and justice for all." So many get excluded from that statement, that I am beginning to wonder if our so-called values are a sick joke. Other countries are expanding freedoms: Spain and Canada have legalised gay marriage. When is the United States - the country I happen to live in - going to get with the program and join the world, rather than trying to control it?