NEW VOICE COLUMN UP, about rightblogger observations of the Fourth of July, which mainly consist of recriminations and bitching. If they had only these to judge by, archaeologists in the far-off future might get the impression that the American Civil War actually started in 2008. If I hated my fellow-citizens this much, I'd move.

UPDATE. Commenters are much funnier than me. "From gay parades to Thanksgiving parades," says wjts, "to veterans parades to Apprentice Boys Parades to Tournament of Roses Parades to Parade magazine to stereotypical Russian military parades to St. Patrick's Day parades to Jaques Tati's Parade, there is no kind of parade I don't hate." I know where wjts is coming from, but what about The Big Parade and Jean Cocteau's and Erik Satie's "Parade"? Patriotism isn't dead, it's just insufficiently inclusive.