Happy July 4th, everyone. Despite our flaws, our problems and a Congress that has its collective head deep in the hat it’s sitting on, I am eternally grateful for this country and the bravery of the men and women who fight for us even though some of them must be demoralized and disillusioned by the slow pace of progress in Iraq.

And because this is such a great country, stuff happens. Like:

Some people are shocked, shocked I tell you, that President Bush commuted Scooter Libby’s prison sentence. In the world of liberal moral equivalence, it is time to remind ourselves of some of President Clinton’s pardons:

ALLEN, Verla Jean Everton, Arkansas False statements to agency of United States
ALTIERE, Nicholas M. Las Vegas, Nevada Importation of cocaine
ALTSCHUL, Bernice Ruth Sherman Village, California Conspiracy to commit money laundering
ANDERSON, Joe, Jr. Grove Hill, Alabama Income tax evasion
ANDERSON, William Sterling Spartanburg, South Carolina Conspiracy to defraud a federally insured financial institution, false statements to a federally insured financial institution, wire fraud
AZIZKHANI, Mansour T. Huntsville, Alabama Conspiracy and making false statements in bank loan applications

And those are only the “A’s”

Just read where film director Werner Herzog still has a green card after some forty years of living and working in the United States. He said he won’t become a citizen of a country that has the death penalty. But he’ll happily stay there and make his money. Don’t you just love people with principle!

It’s now against the law in California for people to drive while using a cell phone. Next up are laws against women applying make-up while driving, men shaving while driving, parents turning around to shut their kids up while driving, boys getting blow jobs while driving and listening to Rush Limbaugh while driving. Incidentally, it’s still against the law for the one/third of the (mostly illegal) population to drive without insurance or valid licenses, but it’s also against the law to deport them when caught.

Thomas Naylor of Vermont heads an organization for Vermont to secede from the Union. When as a guest on the O’Reilly show Bill wondered why he didn’t just move to Canada, merely a hour away from his home, Naylor said that he loved Vermont. It was America that he hated. If there’s anything we can do to surgically remove Vermonters of your ilk from the Union, Mr. Naylor, drop me a line. I’ll be happy to help.

It’s been revealed that Iran is training insurgents to kill American troops in Iraq. Nancy Pelosi’s trip to Iran is finally paying off. Thanks, Nancy.