THE UNITED STATES OF -- WHAT????

I grew up reading in school (the name of what I can't quite recall but was something like the "Scholastic" Journal) a newspaper aimed at children. It frequently highlighted the awful propaganda Soviet kids were subject to, and contrasted that with the rights and privileges we Americans had. Wow, we felt so lucky to live in a country in which freedom was more than a word -- it meant we could think and say exactly what we felt, unfettered by government surveillance and retribution.

While I was musing on this, I discovered that Moe Blues of Bad Attitudes had already articulated my feelings.