Independence Day!
Two hundred thirty-one years ago today, the United States of America was proclaimed as a democratic nation of free men independent of the mildly despotic British Empire. In the subsequent centuries, we have been the paramount agency driving the creation a world that while far from perfect is more prosperous and more free than any antecedent civilization, realizing President Abraham Lincoln's, our national martyr, description of the American republic as "the last, best hope of earth." Today's the Fourth of July, me fellow Americans, Independence Day; have yourselves a damn good time and always remember the wisdom encapsulated in one of the Mountain of Love's custom-made T-shirts: "America kicks ass!"

State(s) of the Union
Between the admission as states of Arizona and New Mexico in 1912 and the admission of Alaska in 1959, the flag bore forty-eight stars, remaining unchanged for forty-seven years, a record. The fiftieth state, Hawai'i, was admitted into the Union on July 4, 1960, forty-seven years ago today. Tomorrow, we will set a new duration record for the flag of the United States of America. Our nation was always about growth, about change, about territorial expansion. Is that at an end? If so, what does that mean for the rest of the ideas at the core of "America"?

I love the fifty-star flag, the flag to which I pledged my loyalty through my youth, but even as a relatively little boy fifty struck me as an almost suspiciously perfect number. Then again, it is also pleasingly perfect. Fifty. I love fifty, but what a thrill it must be to live through the admission of a new state. A new state! More America! That I'd love to see before I die.

The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day
The University of Michigan Marching Band, "The Star-Spangled Banner" from Hurray for the Yellow and Blue (T.L.A.M.)