BASTILLE DAY WAS YESTERDAY

According to cancer statistics,
Lance Armstrong is not alive,
and he has not won the tour de France seven times
Viva Le Lance! And viva la clowns -- the people in the clown suits who were running with him -- how stylishly French and non-boring that was.
Bastille Day represents the ideological foundation for all other independence days
But the clowns made me pleasantly confused -- almost as confused as I was a few years ago when that woman told me that nobody in jail is innocent because we are all born with original sin -- as a bare minimum.
I don't know what freedom is. Janis Joplin says its just another word for nothing left to lose. I don't know what that means; it confuses me, too. It works -- maybe -- but I don't necessarily believe that -- it doesn't get me excited.
The clowns got me excited.
Independence days get me excited.
The Bill of Rights gets me excited.
If you've forgotten about the Bill of Rights, here's a quick summary:
I can say and write pretty much anything. I can have weapons. My house won't be used by the military. If the police don't leave me and my stuff alone, they need a good reason. Should they accuse me of being a bad boy, I don't have to answer to them (and since 1969 they have to tell me that). They can't hold me for long without good evidence that I'm a bad boy, and they have to let me know why they think I'm bad. They have to offer me an free lawyer that says I'm not. A jury has to sort things out -- and the jury has to do it quickly. If the jury punishes me, they can't be cruel. If the jury decides that I didn't do anything wrong, then that's that -- forever -- no matter what. Finally, if my state government gives me rights in addition to these, the federal government can't do anything about it.
Lance, Joplin, the clowns, the Bill -- they're all so exciting.