Happy Birthday USA!

Happy 4th of July, 2009!
Happy 233 years, AMERICA!
You look a little bit battered but you're improving fast. At 224 you looked Radiant! The turn of the Millennium did wonders for you. Sorry about the following eight years. They were hard, no? Sad, sad, sad. It all started in a little, crumby town in Texas and ended up all the way in a big mess in Iraq, Huh? But things are looking up. You are in better hands now and the healing has already started. We'll celebrate with you as much as we can to show you our appreciation for all you've done for us in spite of disasters and calamities, man-made and otherwise. You are strong, America, and we are strong with you.

Thank you for opening your arms and your heart to all of us, especially to people who, like me, were mistakenly born someplace else and had to find our way to you lands through car, or bus or boat, or rackety plane; and worst of all, through bureaucrats and politicians who'd rather see us dead than productive and inventive and happy by your side.

Thank you AMERICA for being here: bright and shinny and battered, but HERE!

¡SALUD!This is a glass of Tequila puro (without the worm, of course),
that I rise on your (and our) behalf.