As we here in America celebrate one of our most revered holidays, our independence from the yoke of tyranny, we stand witness to unspeakable acts of violence perpetrated against women and children, religious practitioners, gays and lesbians, minorities of every stripe, and people just having a different opinion from Arabic Muslims.  It is conducted under the banner of Islam, "the religion of peace."  It is well past time that free people stand up and shout in unison the most obvious of facts: that Islam, as practiced by Arabs in the Middle East, is neither a religion nor peaceful.

Islam is not a religion.  Quite simply, it is a theocratic governmental entity hiding under the shield of religion.  Until America and the other countries of Western civilization take the stand to confront Islam and the Middle East and strip it of its false right to religious protections, we will continue to see mayhem, chaos, and death.

These terrorist attacks that seize the headlines around the world are an affront to civilization, but what is worse and much more cancerous to our society are the more localized attacks that happen daily, right under our noses: honor killings of wives and daughters, genital mutilations of young women by misogynist men to "keep their women in their place," the degradations of all minorities, and the systematic daily attack by their propagandists to demonize anyone who raises a voice in protest.

So as we crank up the grill and hoist a few well-earned drinks, let us remember the high price we've paid for our freedoms we enjoy today, but never forget that those same freedoms can easily slip away from us without our due diligence.  All we have to do is look at what's happening around the world to see that the wolves are at our door disguised as clerics and preaching death via "the religion of peace."