"Land of the free?" "Home of the brave?" I don't think so.

[Cyrano]

Aside from our national anthem being a really bad piece of music, the lyrics have become a grotesque joke.

"Land of the free?" How can a free people live with a shredded constitution, habeas corpus repealed, and a presidential administration that is still in the process of pulling off the biggest heist in the history of the world, and the most egregious war crimes imaginable?

"Home of the brave?" I really need to be enlightened on the braveness of our national press corps over the past eight years, the valor of Democrats who have controlled congress for the past two years, and all the rest of us who didn't protest loudly enough, publicly enough, or vigorously enough.

Bush, Cheney, Rove and so many others who represent the worst instincts of the human species, turned their own demented fantasies into a sick, distorted form of reality. And what did we do about it? Not much.

Perhaps we need Obama to lead us toward national redemption. But here's the thing -- we can't place it all on Obama. It's up to us to do everything possible to help him reestablish our freedoms in the face of what will be fierce, and sometimes rabid Republican opposition.

[Xipe Totec]

1. Not yet, but soon.

Soon we will take back America and restore her to her rightfull place as first among equals.

[Cyrano]

5. From you lips to the ears of America

[LynnTheDem]

2. And thanks to the bush regime, that's exactly what the world is saying about us.

Plus "Land of the Torturers" and "Home of the Hypocrites".


What REALLY pisses me off, aside from all the blood guts brains carnage the bush regime has caused, is GEORGE W. BUSH has PROVED every fucking thing Osama bin Laden accused America of.

[TahitiNut]

3. As long as the Cheny/Bush crime cabal goes unprosecuted, we're a nation of cowards and criminals.

All of us. :shrug:

[Cyrano]

4. Well, we sure as hell have enabled them. And we've run from

our responsibility to stand up to them, fight them at every turn, and protect and defend the United States against all enemies -- especially our domestic enemies.

Over the past 30 or so years, we've allowed ourselves to be silenced by bullies.

Reagan was an amiable imbecile who thrived on an inexplicable personal popularity regardless of his total ignorance of almost everything. Pulling off a giant scam based on popularity is bullying by another name.

Bush I consistently caved into the wishes of the lunatic right whom he despised and who despised him in return. I wouldn't call that presidential courage.

Clinton -- well, Clinton's wing of the Democratic party who wants to move away from the (domestic) humane legacies of FDR, JFK and LBJ aren't exactly what we're supposed to stand for.

And Bush II -- well, shit. Do I really need to say anything about his atrocities?

[soothsayer]

6. That verse ends in a question: Does our flag still fly over the land of the free

and the home of the brave?

Guess it's still a valid question.

[Sugar Smack]

7. "There were one quadrillion nations in the Universe,

but the nation Dwayne Hoover and Kilgore Trout belonged to was the only one with a national anthem which was gibberish sprinkled with question marks."

-Kurt Vonnegut, Breakfast of Champions

[Fumesucker]

8. It is curious

- curious that physical courage should be so common in the world, and moral courage so rare.

-Mark Twain

[leftofthedial]

9. Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave

O'er the land of the gutless slaves?