At times, I find it refreshing to live in a country that requires three seperate holidays devoted to reminding us how great it is. Veteran's Day, Memorial Day, and the 4th of July, all of them basically are holidays to pay tribute to the millions of soldiers who have helped this country and the rest of the world maintain peace, justice and balance, from the frozen winters in the French And Indian wars(Whupped your BUTT, France!), to the torched forests at Ypres and the Somme(You're welcome, France. Bailing you out seems to be a pastime) to the shores of Normandy(You're welcome again, France), to the plains at Gettysburg(Thanks for staying out of it, France, you would only have screwed things up), America was founded by fighters, and has been populated by fighters since day one. Some of you might call it arrogance, some of you might think we're a-holes, some of you might come over here for a few weeks to exploit our education system, suddenly consider yourselves experts on American "intolerance", and then return back to your country to spew ignorance and post really lousy KP pictures extolling the "virtues" of other countries, in other words trivial post-renaissance "art"*, and some of you might just grin and bear it. Still, the majority of you have sense in your noggins, and while you are mightily and rightfully(for the most part) proud of your own countries, you also recognize America as the single most inportant political force in the world(even though most politicians are mentally impaired), and the one country you can rely on to not give a damn about UN sanctions and rush into a problem and blow some sh*t up. Sometimes, that's exactly what you need to do. Unfortunately, for the next 4 years, my proud nation will be demoted from world class butt-whipper to world class butt-kisser, all thanks to the work of Barack Hussein Obama. Since he's taken office, he's done nothing but apologize to the world's enemies, and embolden North Korea to continue with their nuclear research. I would like to take this opportunity to say that the only thing I will apologize to the world for is this nauseating piece of communist nob cheese in the white house, and that I will never recognize him as my president. For the next 4 years, this is the United States of America, run by our charismatic leader, Chuck Norris. Vice president is Ben Spies, and the secretary of defense is Optimus Prime.

Okay, enough ranting. There was plenty of July 4th celebrations to be done, and this being America, all of them involved food. Grilled brats, corn on the cob, and home-made potato salad, eaten on the back porch on paper plates while watching the fireworks at the local high school. If we got any more American at that moment, we would need large hats, a pair of six-shooters, and a fair amount of whoopin' and hollerin'. By the way, the potato salad recipe came from Bobby Flay's cookbook, "Bobby Flay's Bold American Food". It's to die for. I got it for Shego on her 19th birthday, because she mentioned she knew hardly anything about cooking, and needed a bit of a helper. Since then, she's become quite the kitchen implement. Unlike the spork, which is useless and confused.

Besides all the American ballyhoo, there was RACING to be watched today! Yippee! The racing in question was the qualifying for the U.S. Grand Prix at Laguna Seca. Jorge Lorenzo crashed heavily after setting fastest lap, and I certainly hope he can find his way back to the grid for tomorrow's race, to duke it out with his teammate and 8-time world champ, Valentino Rossi. Jorge is the only guy on the track with both the pure speed and killer instinct to hang with Valentino, and the series would be worse without him. Casey Stoner also crahsed heavily, and I hope he's out for the rest of the season. Casey, while fast, is emotionally girlish and weak, and crumbles at the first sign of on-track action. He's been on a bad streak lately, due to being ruthlessly psyched out by Lorenzo and Rossi, and he continues to blame it on a stomach virus. He's had this "virus" for about 5 weeks, now. Valentino lives for riders like this. He's the best in the world, most likely the best who's ever lived, and not only does he know it, everyone else knows it. He's so dominant, he predicted that his main rival for the championship one year, Sete Gibernau, would never win another race in his career. Sete never did. After that, not only did he never win, he was never on the pace. That's what a psychological advantage can do, and Casey is just the kind of weak will that is susceptible to this. Jorge Lorenzo is tougher, and knows that Valentino is the fastest, but he's going to go out there, and either ride his guts out trying to win, or he's going to crash in spectacular fashion. Big respect. Just wait till Ben Spies(Speez) shows up in Grand Prix, he'll finally be someone with both the killer instinct and the blazing speed to give Rossi a good heads-up fight, something Rossi hasn't had since Brno, 2001, racing against his old rival, Max Biaggi. Ben has the most raw talent I've ever seen save for Rossi, combining unlimited aggression with incredible feel for his bucking and wobbling bike. The new Yamaha is anything but dominant, but he pushes it so hard, he's able to make everyone else look like they're running on 3 cylinders. In every corner, you can see the bike swerving and shuddering, one millionth of an inch from disaster, but somehow, he's able to make it through the race. He's so fast and aggressive, he makes Noriyuki Haga, the "Samurai of Slide", and the best veteran in World Superbike since Troy Bayliss retired, look like Mr. Consistency. Ben has earned a new nickname since rising to the world stage, "The Texas Terror". It certainly fits.

Okay, that's definitely enough. Oh, one last thing- Picture update! I just finished Shego in my new picture, and I'm now in the process of doodling Kimmie. Should be done soon.




*Not that I'm pointing fingers, no sir....