Starry starry night

First of all, read THIS from Schmidlap.

Secondly, over the holiday, I was thinking about the Star-Spangled Banner. I have one comment and one question on that one.

1) Be glad at the ball game that you only have to endure the first verse. Otherwise, try this one on for size:

On the shore dimly seen thro' the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty
host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the
towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected, now shines on the stream:
'Tis the star-spangled banner: O, long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave! (editor's note--the last verse is worse)

2) Let's answer the question posed by Mr. Key in his poem (he wrote a poem originally titled "The Defense of Fort McHenry," the tune is an old English one, To Anacreon in Heaven). Is our nation still the "land of the free?"

and the "home of the brave?"