Well, people are stocking up on explosives they've bought on the side of the road, buying tons of beer and meat to cook outside over an open flame.

It's either almost the Fourth of July, or the beginning of hunting season. Since it's about 7000 degrees outside and people are BUYING the meat, not trying to kill it, I'll go with the Fourth idea.

What does this holiday mean to me? Well, it means that I get a day off. It means I've been invited to tons of parties, have family in town to visit, and can't really leave my house because there are so many tourists in town, it just doesn't seem worth it.

Do I seem less-than-thrilled about the holiday? I'm not. I'm actually pretty darn excited, but you'll have to pardon my lack of patriotism lately. I find it hard to muster up deep pride and joy for my country when I see it going to shit.

But that's just me. Have a happy holiday. If you read this from outside the US, then, um, have a great weekend, then!

Well, as a Brit living in Houston, the 4th is a chance for me to be endlessly taunted, in good humo(u)r, about how the Americans 'stuck it to us' back in 1066 or whenever. Of course, until oil was discovered in the States, we were a lot more bothered about losing India :-) Personally, I'd be more pissed off being French and having lost New Orleans...

It's really strange being in the US at this time. I don't so much see the country going to sh*t (okay, yes it is in many ways, but...) as much as it's in a state of upheaval with the extreme right wing christian fundamentalists in power yet issues like anti-sodomy laws finally being addressed and the outcome being favo(u)rable. I used to look at 365gay.com about once a month to see what was happening. Now I find myself checking the gay news once, if not twice a day. There seems to be a domino effect going on as far as gay rights goes, which is forcing the right wing to become even more right wing in an attempt to beat us down... and, although they have a louder voice, it seems to me that they're actually losing ground in the fight to suppress and marginalise us.

It's obviously a great thing that we're getting more rights by the day, but scary as hell to be caught in the middle of the struggle. At least the US isn't as bad as Iran (surprisingly Iraq seems to be ahead of the US as far as gay rights go, at least in law!!!). It seems that Iran is pro-choice as far as sodomy goes... you get caught and you get the choice of how you want to die - hanging, stoning, being pushed off a tall building, or my personal favo(u)rite, being sliced in two with a sword.

Ho hum...

On the subject of right-wing governments, try this on for size...

Go to www.google.com and type: weapons of mass destruction in the search box. NB don't use quotes. Don't hit [search] but use [I'm feeling lucky] instead.

Methinks we have a little anachist at play :-)