Happy Birthday, America!

Tomorrow our country celebrates its 229th birthday. As we all take a day off and enjoy barbeque, fireworks, pools, friends, and family, I'll be thinking about what a great country I live in.

You see, I may not always agree with how this country is run and I may sometimes feel saddened about how we are misrepresented to the rest of the world but I love this place because here I am free to be me. And because of that, I will continue to fight, with every ounce of my being, to see to it that those freedoms continue to be ours.

Also on this day I want to send love and prayers to those serving in the name of our country. I respect each and every soldier both here and abroad. I don't agree with the war in Iraq - I never have - but my beef is with this administration, not those who were sent there to do their job. I pray for each one who has been injured as well as those who will never come back. My heart is broken each time I read of another soldier's death. My prayer for each of you is for peace. My prayer for your families is also for peace and comfort. My prayer for this administration is that they soon realize they have the blood of many innocents on their hands and cease this nonsense.

Happy Birthday, America. These past 229 years have had their fare share of troubles. But I believe the founders of this country had excellent ideas of democracy and left us a solid foundation to build upon.

Happy Birthday, America - a great nation filled with great people.