Growing up in the Eisenhower 50s in Milwaukee we used to go to the public parks on the 4th for free ice cream and played games that awarded prizes.
I won the bike decoration by carefully positioning cards and clothespins in the spokes which played "The Flight of the Bumblebee".
The "duck 'n cover" co-ed sack races were very educational.
Oh well, time to float in the pool and check the sky for shooting stars and Russian bombers.
Posted by TIKI AL at July 4, 2008 03:32 AMI grew up in the 70s in small town NJ. There was a 4th of July parade that included the firefighters (all volunteer) and the trash collectors--both groups got big cheers. I marched in the parade several times as a girl scout and a baton twirler. We took my kids to the parade once (my parents still live there). They thought it was kinda lame.
Posted by CG at July 4, 2008 05:30 AMI won the bike decoration by carefully positioning cards and clothespins in the spokes which played "The Flight of the Bumblebee".
Ahhh. The slow summer nights when my Dad would get together with his buds to drink beer and play cards. He would often perfume the night air with "Son-of-a-bitch! Where in the hell is that god-damned new deck of cards!?"
Let's see:
Charcoal...check. Big weenies...check. Beef patties...check. Potatoe :^) salad...check. Romaine salad...check. Baked beans...check. Buns...check. Condiments...check. Beer in cooler... check... check... check.
A big huge Thank You to the Founding Fathers!
The Declaration of Independence
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 harass 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 benefit 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 British 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.
Happy 4th to all.
Happy 4th to all.
Thanks, Judith. It's the very last 4th that the Mad King, idiot son of George, will be president. That puts a big grin on my face!
Posted by phidipides at July 4, 2008 07:45 AMHi Judith, did you notice how many times you can transpose "He has" with "Bush has" and it jumps right into the 21st century?
Bush is at Jefferson's home today and if there really are ghosts, he may be in trouble.
I just hope Thomas remembered to pay Dick a visit first. President Pelosi has a nice ring to it.
Thanks Mr. P. As I was reading The Declaration of Independence, I thought for a moment it was talking about freedom for George Walker Bush and his tyrannical bunch of traitors and murderers.
"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"
If only we really believed that.
Saint Louis is on some list as the 10th best place to view fireworks at the Arch grounds. However, you couldn't pay me enough to get thrust into that crowd of people.
Posted by Judith at July 4, 2008 07:56 AM"Hi Judith, did you notice how many times you can transpose "He has" with "Bush has" and it jumps right into the 21st century?"
TIKI, that is why I posted it. I hated to take up that much space, but I knew you and some others would get the point of my posting it.
Posted by Judith at July 4, 2008 07:59 AM"Bush is at Jefferson's home today and if there really are ghosts, he may be in trouble."
George Bush dishonors Thomas Jefferson by even putting one foot inside his home.
Posted by Judith at July 4, 2008 08:05 AMHappy 4th!
Here's a fun big-hugs video someone shared with me.
Posted by Sharon at July 4, 2008 08:15 AMHappy 4th, all! We had fantastic thunderstorms this week, and the heat finally broke. Now it's time for food and beer and Nintendo! Yay!
Judith, I totally understand about the crowds - I can see fireworks from my back deck, there's no sense going into traffic when I can sit with a beer and watch my neighbors blow themselves up.
Posted by iamcoyote at July 4, 2008 08:23 AMJesse Helms is dead. I wonder who gets his Klan robes?
Posted by phidipides at July 4, 2008 08:42 AMJesse Helms is dead. I wonder who gets his Klan robes?
Posted by phidipides at July 4, 2008 08:42 AM
They go into Robert Byrd's collection.
Posted by jj at July 4, 2008 09:05 AMThey go into Robert Byrd's collection.
Next to Strom Thurmond's?
Posted by phidipides at July 4, 2008 09:52 AMnice try
Posted by jj at July 4, 2008 10:00 AMPart of a good read:
The Declaration of Independence gives us the true meaning of a patriot, someone who supports a country's ideals, not necessarily its government.
In celebration of the Fourth of July there will be many speeches about the young people who "died for their country." But those who gave their lives did not, as they were led to believe, die for their country; they died for their government. The distinction between country and government is at the heart of the Declaration of Independence, which will be referred to again and again on July 4, but without attention to its meaning.
The Declaration of Independence is the fundamental document of democracy. It says governments are artificial creations, established by the people, "deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed," and charged by the people to ensure the equal right of all to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." Furthermore, as the Declaration says, "whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it." It is the country that is primary-the people, the ideals of the sanctity of human life and the promotion of liberty.
When a government recklessly expends the lives of its young for crass motives of profit and power, while claiming that its motives are pure and moral, ("Operation Just Cause" was the invasion of Panama and "Operation Iraqi Freedom" in the present instance), it is violating its promise to the country. War is almost always a breaking of that promise. It does not enable the pursuit of happiness but brings despair and grief.
http://www.truthout.org/article/howard-zinn-patriotism-and-fourth-july
Posted by Judith at July 4, 2008 10:41 AMIamcoyote, yeah, with 750 thousands plus people crammed under the arch (a very small area) with drunks galore and parking expensive and impossible, why would anyone venture into that madness? Try getting out of a city with 750 thousand plus other people trying, at the same moment, to accomplish the exact same thing. Not on your life.
Went to Mom's last night and they had a remarkable display of fireworks. That was enough to satisfy my inner child.
Posted by Judith at July 4, 2008 10:48 AM"Nice try." WTF does that mean?
Posted by Judith at July 4, 2008 11:27 AMI take that question back. I don't care what it means.
Posted by Judith at July 4, 2008 11:28 AM"This Fourth of July, let's remember that it's not our God-given American right to reorder the world to our liking." Robert Scheer
Posted by Shirin at July 4, 2008 12:05 PMGod bless America
Posted by Tex at July 4, 2008 12:17 PMgod save the world from America.
Posted by Shirin at July 4, 2008 12:51 PMHey Phidy-cent, didn't Vice President Quayle once spell potato that way? I guess thats why the extra symbols.
My oh my, not even a guys passing can let him rest in peace...you fine folks are something else.
Happy 4th my TLC friends! Enjoy the food and fun, enjoy some fireworks tonight and enjoy the fellowship with your friends and family!
Posted by peter at July 4, 2008 02:34 PMhappy holiday to all the OG TLCers. Its kinda hard to enjoy a fireworks demo today, and a cold beer, knowing that 150,000 plus Americans are In 125 degree heat in Iraq, dodging real fireworks because our president and our Congress ignored a mountain of evidence and invaded that little country looking for a father's approval and a wealth of oil.
Posted by T2 at July 4, 2008 02:38 PMT2: I think W was looking to spite his father with the insane invasion, not seek his approval.
Judith and uRcoyote: There is a huge Tempe Town Lake fireworks party tonight and boy am I with you girls on avoiding like the plague the Cecil B DeMill size throng of drunken idiots and (gasp) 2 time W voters.
However, I did go one year and found their severe looks of concentration while they attempted to walk and drink beer at the same time entertaining.
Posted by TIKI AL at July 4, 2008 03:13 PMWhile Obama and McCain enjoyed this American institution y'all were stewing at home. While 1215 American soldiers were re-enlisting in Baghdad, y'all were home feeling smug. Those soldiers over there are there for you to celebrate this holiday. That's their purpose, to allow Americans of all walks of life to enjoy life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Posted by peter at July 4, 2008 08:59 PMYeah Peter, we know. Their defending our rights so we can "enjoy life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness."
WTF? Do you really not understand why we are in Iraq? The only thing they are defending are the rights of the rich and powerful to steal and plunder a once peaceful Country called Iraq.
Posted by Judith at July 4, 2008 09:19 PMOur fearless soldiers are blindly following inept orders and making us and the world less safe as Bush strips our freedom at home.
PLEASE STOP SIGNING UP until sanity and reason return to the White House!!!
I heard a soldier on the TV news at the Baghdad mass signing say he only re-upped because of the 15 grand signing bonus, and his daughter needed a car due to an accident. He had planned to come home.
Posted by TIKI AL at July 4, 2008 10:58 PMonce again: why isn't pants pissing peter doing some McCain-sytle shopping in Baghdad?
yellow cur
Posted by gay veteran at July 6, 2008 12:26 PM