Dear Readers:

While our Freedom Bash wasn’t quite as impressive as Al Gore’s concert, we still consider it a success.

Live Earth was hard to top?some of the best artists in the world broadcast across the globe in various forms. It boasted a lineup as diverse as Bonnaroo’s: from Roger Waters to Luda to Alicia Keys to The Foo Fighters.

And why isn’t Melissa Etheridge a senator? Just when we thought trying to do something good through music was so 1960s, great artists come together at this level to try to make the world better for everyone’s future, quite a welcome contrast to the spirit of hate and greed that dominates the U.S. political landscape. I don’t blame Mr. Gore for wanting to work with musicians instead of politicians.

I hear he is finally making his energy-guzzling Belle Meade mansion more eco-friendly as well, a massive home that has caused some to label him a hypocrite.

Anyway, the spirit was there at the Buzz Nation Freedom Bash. A few hundred of us celebrated our right to peaceably assemble.

And while there will always be problems in America, we need to remember July 4 is a celebration of our country, that is our friends, family, music, pizza, beer and whatever else you happen to enjoy in America, not a corrupt and power-hungry government. The key word being “our” country. Let us not forget July 4 is a remembrance of revolution against overbearing government.

Stay tuned to The Pulse for more events to come. We have some big plans.

Don’t you love John McCain’s choice of words when describing the situation in Iraq: “starting to show signs of progress.” Not claiming there is actual progress, nor even a complete sign has been shown, but five years into this ill-defined debacle the situation is just starting to show signs of progress. At times, I may have started to show signs of being a fish or a garbage disposal or a tree, but that’s a long way from the real thing.

Hey Iraqi kids, the same weird old guys in ties deciding our future are now deciding yours.

This issue contains some great stories of people in our area really trying to do something for kids: The Generation for Creation, Southern Girls Rock ’n’ Roll Camp and Kids for the Creative Arts are all organizations that need to expand to Iraq if we’re trying to colonize them, or whatever the word is these days.

If you want to get on the good side of a girl with a sunburn, get a bottle of aloe gel and a fan.

Send me a letter Murfreesboro.

Peace,

Bracken Mayo, Editor in Chief