Independence Day 2010: Happy 234th birthday, America
Photo source: Defense.gov
God bless the U.S.A. We remain the land of the free because of the brave. The above photo of more than 500 veterans with American flags lining a procession route at the Iowa Veterans Cemetery in Van Meter, Iowa (the veterans were providing a motorcycle escort for the unclaimed remains of seven Iowan troops) was taken by Navy Senior Chief Petty Officer Gary Ward. Keep our troops in your thoughts and prayers as we celebrate in the comfort of our homes surrounded by friends and loved ones. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen’s message:
This Independence Day we celebrate our Nation’s 234th birthday. As this holiday weekend approaches and we enjoy parades, picnics and fireworks, I hope we also take a moment to remember the generations of Americans who have safeguarded our independence.
Today, there are more than 200,000 uniformed American men and women deployed in harm’s way, protecting us. Their steady lives of dedication remind us that our Nation’s promise must be tended to everyday. I won’t forget the gifts of their service far away from home or the sacrifices of the families who wait for their return.
Another way we tend to America’s promise is through our care and acknowledgment of our wounded warriors, their families, and the families of our fallen and our missing in action. For many, their healing will last a lifetime, and our commitment to them should be equally enduring.
President Dwight Eisenhower once observed that freedom resides in “the hearts, the actions and the spirit” of our people. Today, especially, we celebrate everything that Americans do – in both action and in spirit – to render that freedom inviolate.
As an annual public service reminder of the reason for the season, I’m reprinting the Declaration of Independence in its entirety. The transcription comes via the National Archives (thank goodness, Sandy Berger hasn’t swiped it yet!)
IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.–Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
The 56 signatures on the Declaration appear in the positions indicated:
Column 1
Georgia:
Button Gwinnett
Lyman Hall
George Walton
Column 2
North Carolina:
William Hooper
Joseph Hewes
John Penn
South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge
Thomas Heyward, Jr.
Thomas Lynch, Jr.
Arthur Middleton
Column 3
Massachusetts:
John Hancock
Maryland:
Samuel Chase
William Paca
Thomas Stone
Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Virginia:
George Wythe
Richard Henry Lee
Thomas Jefferson
Benjamin Harrison
Thomas Nelson, Jr.
Francis Lightfoot Lee
Carter Braxton
Column 4
Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris
Benjamin Rush
Benjamin Franklin
John Morton
George Clymer
James Smith
George Taylor
James Wilson
George Ross
Delaware:
Caesar Rodney
George Read
Thomas McKean
Column 5
New York:
William Floyd
Philip Livingston
Francis Lewis
Lewis Morris
New Jersey:
Richard Stockton
John Witherspoon
Francis Hopkinson
John Hart
Abraham Clark
Column 6
New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett
William Whipple
Massachusetts:
Samuel Adams
John Adams
Robert Treat Paine
Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins
William Ellery
Connecticut:
Roger Sherman
Samuel Huntington
William Williams
Oliver Wolcott
New Hampshire:
Matthew Thornton
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God Bless America!!!
God bless us all.
Nice pic, Senior Chief. Are you a Pornographer’s Mate?
How far we’ve come, how far we’ve regressed.
Still, we are are the last best hope of the world.
G-D BLESS AMERICA, now more than ever.
Let Freedom Ring! Happy Independance Day everyone.
I just got through posting the colors in front of our home here in New Market, MD. This task took place only after having a long debate with my wife late last night. She took me by surprise when she stated “the flag should not be put up this year because we are no longer the Republic for which it stands”. I have been a military (USAF, USAF Reserve and Air National Guard) man for over 29 years and the thought of not putting up the American flag on the 4th of July did not sit well with me. Her argument was that our freedoms have been eroded over the last few decades. She says our country is now run by thousands of politicians (local, state and federal) who are beholden not to the people but to lobbyists, unions and corporations. She has a good argument. We are not the Republic our forefathers had probably envisioned. We still have the power as a nation under God to get back to a Republic based on our brilliant Constitution. I have taken thousands of pledges to the flag of the United States of America. I have taken seven oaths in uniform to defend my country against enemies foreign and domestic. I still hold the ideals, values and principles that founded this great nation dearly in my heart.
The U.S. Flag WILL fly proudly today at my home! The efforts to regain our Republic begin in earnest this November at the polls. Vote and God Bless America!!!
Happy Independence Day to all!
And may God the Father Almighty continue to Bless the USA, now and forever.
God Bless America! It was 42 years ago I gave up my independence and liberty and entered Receiving at Parris Island – still don’t remember if we ‘celebrated’ the 4th, that first week was a blur.
The current regime (as I have no other ‘clean’ word for it) is intent on taking everything our country has stood for, away from us and generations to come. If you read the Declaration, all of the Colonists points are valid today. The actions of this administration and it’s Congressional lackeys can only be considered criminal, and when we take back Our House, subpoenas should fly to bring all these illegal activities and criminals to justice.
In regards to the BP spill – why is the accident being investigated by the EPA and not OSHA? OSHA is not aligned with political agendas, and I have no doubt that it would find BP at fault (as it has done in the past), but it would establish legal violations and ensure prosecution. The One settled with BP for $20B in damages to avoid a legal battle where documents showing total mismanagement and gross incompetence of the MMS and Interior Department heads, would be outed in the discovery process. I wonder what will happen when BP decides enough is enough and goes – “OK, sue us”?
Let us not ever forget Verse Two
#5 said:
Our Flag is up 24/7 just like us being an American is.
Happy Birthday America …
May the Red White and Blue forever fly over the land of the Free and the home of the Brave …
God Bless America …
Revolting, isn’t it? Happy Birthday America-stand firm.
Happy Birthday U.S.A.!
In November, may we begin to shed this insidious liberal, “progressive” tyranny!
BTW Sea_Dog, I also was in Marine Corps bootcamp 42 years ago, on the the 4th of July (on the “Hollywood” side). My platoon was qualifying that week, and we did have a great evening chow, with steak, to celebrate. Also, prior to lights out, my Senior Drill Instructor, GySgt Ortiz, explained to us why he loved the U.S.A., and that he became a Marine because he wanted to fight to keep the United States free. Unlike his former country, Mexico, which dictates to it’s people and not the other way around. GySgt Ortiz, is one of the greatest Americans I have ever known!
Radio Relay – I was a 2831, when I went through Comm School in SD, I met some ROK Marines that really made one understand the value of freedom.
Good clip on our educational system. Jay Leno questions people about the history of July 4th in his Jaywalking segment…
More reason to dump good money after bad into our educational system
Happy Independence day!
Declaration of Independence
One page created by people of vision. One page that created a country.
Compare that to the tax code…death care…stimuli… Pages and pages of destruction.
It boggles the mind what our congress has done to this country – in years past and now.
Stars and Stripes forever!
Happy Birthday America!
Jay Leno messed up on one question. Paul Revere did not say, “The British are coming”. It would have been a silly cry since the citizens considered themselves British at the time. No, he passed the word that the “regulars were out”. It wasn’t the first time either. Several times the regulars went out on scouting expeditions and sweeps only to return without incident; except once. That was in Salem, I believe, over possession of a bridge. Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed. The system of riders started with two: Revere and Dawes. Dawes was good at playing a drunk and so got past the guard post at Boston neck. Other riders, once alerted, rode to other towns, alerting even more riders. At the time, it was quite an effective system. The other mistake is that Revere waited on the Charleston shore for the lantern signal in the North Church. He already knew and, once across the bay, picked up a horse that the “minutemen” had held for him. The church signal was for the militia, signaling which route the regulars were using. Happy 4th everyone! With a few minor changes, additions and deletes, the Declaration would be appropiate today for our congress (parliament) and Obama (King George).
May I add…be kind to a horsefly today. Their ancestors helped.
I promise to use only a new horsefly swatter.
Shew, fly, don’t bother me,
Shew, fly, don’t bother me,
Shew, fly, don’t bother me,
For I belong to somebody.
I feel, I feel,
I feel like a morning star,
I feel, I feel,
I feel like a morning star.
Happy Independence Day to you and yours, Michelle, and all the readers.
Happy Secession day! That’s what it really was.
At times like these, maybe some education is in order.
http://www.amazon.com/Nullification-Resist-Federal-Tyranny-Century/dp/1596981490/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1278250353&sr=1-1
A great new book I’m reading now, you might want to read it as well. Enjoy this day!
Freedom Watch!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRcwFeCMEZI&feature=PlayList&p=F92D517D84C5F435&playnext_from=PL&index=0&playnext=1
Geraldo Rivera, Tom Woods, Peter Schiff, Bob Barr and others. Geraldo was surprising….
May God continue to bless the United States of America.
Prayers for our brave military men and women today and every day, as they protect our freedom so we may sleep safely at night.
@dddave, my flag flies from Memorial Day to Veterans day. I had a recent conflict with my wife regarding the flag, and that was because I wanted to fly the flag upside down.
For the ignorant liberals and commies trolling this blog, that is a distress signal. I’ve been flying it upside down on MY blog since Nov 4, 2008. Earlier this year, I added FLAMES to the image to show how it’s being burned to a crisp by the Amerikka-haters in the whitehouse and congress.
I relented, my wife won, only because I am so proud of my country and of that flag.
November 3, 2010 will require a review of my flag-display policy. If they ACORN the election, it will be a much different scenario. I pray that such a day never comes, but as many, many have said recently, it may be upon us before we know it.
GOD BLESS AMERICA and the brave men & women in uniform who are working to keep us free.
At the Chicago area Tea Party picnic that I attended yesterday there was a copy of the Declaration of Independence that everyone could sign. I signed but my husband joked that the original signers were marked men so no thanks.
All kidding aside-As a woman who was born not only Jewish(now Catholic) but mildly autistic in 1970 I feel so grateful that the Lord not only chose to have me born when he did but where He did.
I am daily blessed by being a citizen of this STILL great nation!
I’m putting the flag out, going to church and spending the day thanking God for such a great nation as ours. We are so blessed!
Maybe today is a day to be thankful that progressives have shown their intentions openly. We can fight what we know and see as our enemies. We’ve been apathetic too long and there’s an awakening among those who truly love this country.
God bless our troops and God bless America!!
God bless America and our troops around the world. Grandson @ Bagram air field in Afghanistan. Will my brother’s death and brother’s wounds in WWII have been in vain? Pray hard and don’t let that happen.
We started the HBO John Adams special marathon last night and through today. Once its 110 being inside with the AC and watching John Adams is a great way to stay cool.
Jump in the pool between episodes, grab a snack, and more of history……
Elena Kagan is…I fear…headed for the Supreme Court. She apparently never got the basic history, law, and civics lessons from her mentors that most of us did, somehow.
Just for review, those included the idea that our nation COULD be founded BECAUSE those founding it were IMBUING the new nation with rights THEY held.
The man who nominated her is using the Gulf situation as a tool in his drive to “fundamentally transform America”.
American…as we know and love it…needs God to bless it now, perhaps more than ever it has.
Sea_Dog and radio relay …
I too spent the 4th of July in Marine Boot Camp … 46 years ago … The Gulf of Tonkin happened before I graduated and headed to ITR …
Bless all my fellow Marines and all of America’s service men and women around the world … especially those currently in harms way …
Semper Fi!
***
The one name missing from the Declaration of Independence is that of George Washington. Like the other Patriots he put all he had on the line for his country. And to him fell the most important task of all–making the dream of American Independence a reality.
***
Thank you signers and defenders of our Declaration of Independence, our Constitution, and our Bill of Rights. Our system has been studied and copied in many other countries. Mexico, Central American, and South American countries saw what we did and took on–and took out–their own kings and despots.
***
And now we see Comrade Obama (PBUH) and his ilk trashing our country–and wanting to FUNDAMENTALLY CHANGE IT!! They haven’t done all the injuries listed in the Declaration of Independence–but they have done some of them, and the Regime is working on doing some more of them.
***
Thank you Vets for defending our country. All should do their part and vote out these socialists / statists / marxists in the 2010 and 2012 elections. Send them the same message our ancestors sent King George III 234 years ago.
***
John Bibb
***
In the 235th year of this country’s founding, I pledge a new declaration…that this Nation, Under God, will stay free and sovereign for at least another 235 years, and I pledge to do all that is in my power to defeat the evil that is trying to destroy it. That is a solomn pledge on the graves of my ancestors who fought against tyranny in the American Revolution. With God on their side, under unbelievable odds against them, they triumphed! To the current-day patriots I say…keep the faith and fight like hell, in any way you can, to preserve the last best hope on earth.
Happy Birthday America. Long may you live.
Friday @ work I dug out my pocket Constitution, which also has the Declaration of Independence and I began to read. I was broguht to tears reading the last paragraph.
“And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.”
They pledged to give up everything for freedom. What a strong, powerful statement!
Thank you Michelle for this post. I look forward to enjoying this day thinking of this statement and wondering who will step forward to proclaim their pledge for freedom from the tyranny we are under once again.
John Adams wasn’t such a great guy really. Jefferson had to do a lot to restore the Republic after Adams.
I checked, no Karl Marx, no Trotsky, no Lenin, and no mention of collective rights either.
I am so thankful for our wonderful Republic. Our country has gone through other presidents who, like this bho, wanted to crater it. The citizens did their duty and saw to it these people were not re-elected. I pray it will be so in 2012.
I thank God for the men and women who defend our country. We have the best!
To all here at MM, I wish you all a very Happy Birthday United States of America!
L
Happy Independence Day!
JS Middleton, I was watching the Adams series too. I liked it so much that I bought a book about Abigail. She seemed rather feisty.
It is time to send a new Declaration of Independence to the current administration. No need to wait till Bho decides to have his thugs quartered in our homes.
America! Hell, yeah!!
Happy Independence Day everyone.
Something to consider today.
If you could, would you rather your parents give you 13 T in their will, or give you 13 T in debt?
This is what we need to consider concerning the debt. The liberals who don’t think owing 13 T is a bad thing, ask them if it would be a good thing if we had 13T in surplus.
If we continue to borrow money instead of living within our means as a country, we will not succeed as a nation.
This includes defense spending. I don’t want my tax dollars being spent in Afghanistan for Afghanis. I don’t want American soldiers to die for Afghanis. For those that expect ‘victory’ in Afghanistan, I ask what is victory? At what cost? Consider if it is worth it please. I’m not saying ‘defeat’ or ‘loss’, but there is nothing to win there for America.
I love America. Americans are fortunate just to be American. This is the greatest, most prosperous, and most powerful country in the history of the world. . . but we can fail too.
God Bless America!
Seriously though. . . we began this war (undeclared) during much better economic times than we have now. I appreciate the ‘gung ho’ pro military Republican. . . but the simple fact is we can’t afford this war today.
Declare victory and come home. Cut the lights out and leave. Protect America with travel restrictions against people who travel to and through Pakistan and Afghanistan through the State Department. It’s cheaper and more effective in keeping us safe.
Being there doesn’t keep us safer here as Faisal Shazad shows.
I read this every year as a reminder. Rush’s dad wrote this wonderful tribute to the signers of the Declaration of Independence.
http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/folder/american_who_risked_everything_1.guest.html
DITTO!!!
John Adams
Yes, hard to understand the Alien and Sedition Acts and liberty. However there are interesting parallels to be drawn between a President signing into law something that was suspect constitutionally and unpopular with the masses then and Obama now.
Nothing any of these guys do is permanent and all of it can be changed with the next election cycle.
*Oh man, what a great picture; Happy Birthday America; May God bless us with many, many more, within the vision our Founding Fathers intended; We will move the right way forward!
Here once again on our Independence Day, is Porky learning the meaning of being an American. I dare you not to reach for the Kleenex when Paul Revere rides at midnight.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utkBu-mqi-c
This was made in 1939 at the time when the Warner brothers, makers of this cartoon and immigrants who appreciated our freedoms, had been hauled before Congress, some of whose members complained that they had damaged our good relations with Germany by producing “Confessions of a Nazi Spy.”
Just finished listening to Daniel Rodriguez sing “God Bless America” and having a good cry. Google it and listen! He was one of the firefighters on 9/11 and made a CD of partiotic songs. That voice and that song were made for each other!!
Happy 4th !!!
It’s too late to apologize…
Sorry…not firefighter, a policeman.
As I was seeing on billboards in New England and New York yesterday: Happy Birthday America! and a Happy Independence Day to all of you.
Happy Birthday America, the best country in this vast world, without a doubt. God Bless this great nation and all its citizens.
Just a thought on our hope for the future.
HAPPY 4th TO ALL MY FELLOW AMERICANS!!! Saddest thing I have heard recently??? 26% of our CITIZENS do not know from whom we fought to get INDEPENDENCE!?!? HOW TRULY SAD!!!
Happy Birthday America and God bless our troops that keep us free from outside forces, now we have to keep ourselves free from within.
Conversion to socialism is not backed by the will of the people and should not be forced upon us by those who lack constitutional restraint.
TARP, Stimulus 1 & 2, bank bailouts, private business take overs, mandatory health insurance, and future amnesty legislation. How many times do we have to say that we don’t want to pay for these things with our taxes? Failing to provide for border security and controlling the oil spill so as to score political points.
Says it all!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AMERICA!
I’m thankful that my people were Colonists who fought for Liberty in the Revolutionary War. Their legacy is the love of God and the love of Freedom that once set us apart from every other nation on earth. I salute all who dedicate their lives to the fight to regain that Freedom.
GOD SAVE AMERICA!
What Best Represents The American Spirit?
Tazed – “Too Late to Apologize” is my favorite expression of our independence!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZfRaWAtBVg
I’m with waterboy – my flag flies EVERY day, ALL day.
But one thing caught my eye here that nobody has yet commented on. There was the following in the first paragraph: “(the veterans were providing a motorcycle escort for the unclaimed remains of seven Iowan troops)”
Is it possible that 7 of our brave men had nobody to claim their bodies? Astounding.
The Declaration of Indepence is worth rereading every Independence Day. It is said that Thomas Jefferson wrote much of it, but some historians indicate that John Adams wrote the preamble, “When in the course of human events…” I would like to think so anyway. A bit of trivia, both Adams and Jefferson died on the 50th Anniversary of the first Indepence Day.
This is the first 4th of July, that my wife, after fighting Immigration for 10 years, can celebrate her legal residency in the U.S.. Any person who would sit for 10 hours, watching History Channel’s “Revolution” and Discovery’s “Liberty”, with a notebook and pen, deserves legal residency, plus visit everything from Kings Mountain to the Freedom trail.
Happy Independence Day!
Thanks to everyone who helps keep this great nation free. Perhaps in a few more years our government will be on the same side as the rest of us!
God bless America!
Congratulations Mrs. graysonret and welcome to America.
Gee, I know a certain son of kenya doing the same thing right now….
Flag went up just after dawn this morning, then off to church, later to enjoy the company of many old friends at a bar-b-que.
Happy Birthday to this great nation and congratulations to it’s people for supplying the glue that still holds it together. We have some trying times to deal with starting Tuesday. But, for today, love your family and friends and relish that burst of pride when the first fireworks go off.
Happy Independence Day.
Congratulations Mrs. graysonret. What a wonderful day for you.
Meanwhile, back in the bunker under the picture of Karl Marx, Barry, Michelle, Van, Valarie, Eric, et. all. are upset. It seems like everything they have tried to make us go away only makes us stronger.
Its always amusing to see how despots react when they run head long into determined free people.
Keep the faith and keep up the fight.
Congratulations Mrs. Greysonret, may you enjoy this day and many others. No better argument against Obama’s (and others) amnesty plans.
Something to think about: Not one state, not one, has set any state testing standards for social studies. NCLB (no child left behind) does not concern itself with social studies dictates, only math and reading, so the states don’t either. Learning about our history has taken a back seat and one reason is NCLB’s neglect in addressing its importance. This is not an oversight, this is intentional. This follows European schooling where most of the general population does not know anything but revisionist history-which I am realizing can be said about our population, too. The focus is reading, math and, in some instances, science. My son went to France and a boy from the family that hosted my son came to the US. This boy attended an elite school composed of children that were “tracked” for university attendance. My son was taking a European history class and the french boy was stunned and didn’t understand why Americans studied history to the extent that we do (or did). He had no clue about France’s Vichy government. We have a being like Bill Ayers, who is a University of Illinois at Chicago professor, providing instruction to future teachers of America. Very scary times. In my 12 years of being educated in Catholic schools, and 20 years of teaching in a public school system, I never heard anyone teach about the poverty and torture that most of the signers of our Declaration experienced. They are true heroes!
As a Texan watching America slip away I salute Mrs Greysonret and say an American isn’t granted citizenship as much as recognized. All people living in Texas are not Texans but those that know and love freedom are.
Timeless…
Liberate America !
America/Suicide/Monster
____________________Once the religious, the hunted and weary
Chasing the promise of freedom and hope
Came to this country to build a new vision
Far from the reaches of kingdom and pope
Like good Christians, some would burn the witches
Later some got slaves to gather riches
But still from near and far to seek America
They came by thousands to court the wild
And she just patiently smiled and bore a child
To be their spirit and guiding light
And once the ties with the crown had been broken
Westward in saddle and wagon it went
And ’til the railroad linked ocean to ocean
Many the lives which had come to an end
While we bullied, stole and bought our a homeland
We began the slaughter of the red man
But still from near and far to seek America
They came by thousands to court the wild
And she just patiently smiled and bore a child
To be their spirit and guiding light
The blue and grey they stomped it
They kicked it just like a dog
And when the war over
They stuffed it just like a hog
And though the past has it’s share of injustice
Kind was the spirit in many a way
But it’s protectors and friends have been sleeping
Now it’s a monster and will not obey
The spirit was freedom and justice
And it’s keepers seem generous and kind
It’s leaders were supposed to serve the country
But now they won’t pay it no mind
‘Cause the people grew fat and got lazy
And now their vote is a meaningless joke
They babble about law and order
But it’s all just an echo of what they’ve been told
Yeah, there’s a monster on the loose
It’s got our heads into a noose
And it just sits there watchin’
Our cities have turned into jungles
And corruption is stranglin’ the land
The police force is watching the people
And the people just can’t understand
We don’t know how to mind our own business
‘Cause the whole worlds got to be just like us
Now we are fighting a war over there
No matter who’s the winner
We can’t pay the cost
‘Cause there’s a monster on the loose
It’s got our heads into a noose
And it just sits there watching
America where are you now?
Don’t you care about your sons and daughters?
Don’t you know we need you now
We can’t fight alone against the monster
____________________I can’t help but characterize our current adminsitration as the “monster”
In April 1945 the American Army liberated the town of Pilsen in what’s now the Czech Republic. After the war Pilsen was in the Soviiet occupation zone. For 55 years children in Pilsen were taught how the Red Army had liberated Pilsen. After the Iron Curtain fell in 1991 the newly free city of Pilsen invited the American Army to attend the commeration of their liberation.
For 55 years, parents had taught their children the truth behind closed doors in their homes. The people of Pilsen should be our example.
We are responsible for educating our children in our communities. If not in school then in our homes.
The only thing students are taught, these days, about our independence and the Constitution was that it was done by mean, cruel white slaveholders. As far as our educational system thinks, that is enough for the students to know. By the way, the Mrs. thanks you all.
*Way to go Mrs. Greysonret; Although you went through many trials and tribulations, you did it the right way and you are in the RIGHT place; Now don’t wait too long to start the steps for naturalization; After getting my green card(I was a legal resident alien, as opposed to an illegal alien), 10 years later I was naturalized; I hemmed and hawed about it, but it can be done in less than 3 years; Your green card is your green light; Go for it so you can help us vote the bums out as I intend to do.
Hit beginning of John Wayne “The Cowboys” and will be watching it instead of John Adams for now.
Happy Independence Day! And Thank You to all who have sacrificed so much so that we may be free.
Read through the Declaration of Independence w/my 8 year old last night. Talked about what it meant for these men to do what they did – humbly, firmly, and with every intent to give it all for what they believed in. Many of them did.
Our government is guilty of many egregious “usurpations” again – perhaps time for another Declaration.
I read the first two paragraphs and the last paragraph to our congregation today, and added that as the men stepped up to sign it, they were essentially signing their own death warrant. Then I somberly suggested we pray for some of our elected officials to pick up a copy and read it today.
Happy Birthday United States of America.
King George III would fit right in with the modern-day Democrat party.
On the Glorious Fourth of July this year I got a sun burn by the pool splashing with the grandkids. I also ate too much.
God Bless America and next year I WILL remember the sun screen. Now we return to the real world and do things.
–
The Concord Hymn
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1837)
By the rude bridge that arched the flood,
Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled;
Here once the embattled farmers stood;
And fired the shot heard round the world.
The foe long since in silence slept;
Alike the conqueror silent sleeps,
And Time the ruined bridge has swept
Down the dark stream that seaward creeps.
On this green bank, by this soft stream,
We place with joy a votive stone,
That memory may their deeds redeem,
When, like our sires, our sons are gone.
O Thou who made those heroes dare
To die, and leave their children free, –
Bid Time and Nature gently spare
The shaft we raised to them and Thee.
Independence
Taken to a personal level, how many Americans are Independent these days, or Dependent?
Without the social programs. Also, he would want a stronger military and would definitely seal the borders solid. He would consider drug smugglers as bandits and would not hesitate to order weapons used.
I know this is very belated (I was offline with family for several days), but for anyone still reading this thread, check out Chris Muir’s take on: