"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. —"
I was watching Red, White and Boom last night on TV and wondered if the men who drafted and signed this document would be proud, ashamed, or horrified at what we have become.
I hope some good things would make them proud.
I fear some things would shame them.
They pledged their, "lives, fortunes and sacred honor." Where is the honor these days?
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. —"
I was watching Red, White and Boom last night on TV and wondered if the men who drafted and signed this document would be proud, ashamed, or horrified at what we have become.
I hope some good things would make them proud.
I fear some things would shame them.
They pledged their, "lives, fortunes and sacred honor." Where is the honor these days?
Where is the heart of this great country?
For all its foibles and craziness I still think that this is a great place. As much as I can be totally appalled at times, I really wouldnt live anywhere else. I suppose thats what happens when you hand a country to people.
The soul of America gets beat down from time to time but I think that it is still strong and will eventually find a way.
I'd love to sit here on the fourth and play "stars and stripes forever",I heard this "love song" a few years back that captured a few things for me a little more honestly
I heard part of a pretty good little piece on American the other day. I have tried to look for it on YouTube, but since I was working and only caught part of it I don't know who did it. The only thing I do know is that it was a fairly recent recording by a Canadian man. I don't know if he was a celebrity or not.
In it he mentioned that America sends aid all over the world - quickly - yet doesn't receive even an offer to help by other nations when a disaster hits here at home. He cited the Tsunami a few years back and contrasted it to the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.
It was a great little lesson, and while I'm sure there are some counterpoints to what was said, it did put a lot in perspective.
If anyone knows what I'm talking about, please either post it or PM me and let me know what it is I'm looking for. :)
I think that Jacquie Lawson (England) and so many fine people internationally as well are praying for the egacy and heritage of American integrity, kindness, and defense of the truth, protection of the less fortunate -- all the things of One Nation under God -- to regain a new birth of freedom.
Here's a quote from a letter John Adams wrote to his wife. He expected July 2 to become the national holiday because the Continental Congress declared the "United Colonies free and Independent States" on July 2. The document justifying the act of Congress was dated July 4th.
"The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival. . . . It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfire and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more."
Enjoy your Pomp and Parades, Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations!
I heard part of a pretty good little piece on American the other day. I have tried to look for it on YouTube, but since I was working and only caught part of it I don't know who did it. The only thing I do know is that it was a fairly recent recording by a Canadian man. I don't know if he was a celebrity or not.
In it he mentioned that America sends aid all over the world - quickly - yet doesn't receive even an offer to help by other nations when a disaster hits here at home. He cited the Tsunami a few years back and contrasted it to the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.
It was a great little lesson, and while I'm sure there are some counterpoints to what was said, it did put a lot in perspective.
If anyone knows what I'm talking about, please either post it or PM me and let me know what it is I'm looking for. :)
He must have been reading different newspapers than I read. Right after the Katrina disaster, I read that other countries who HAD
received aid during disasters where preparing to send aid here. I remember thinking that the SPECIFIC aid they were stating
under preparation would come in handy under the circumstance, but that's all the thought I gave it at the time.
Unless he's saying those countries CLAIMED they'd send aid, then didn't SEND any, he's unaware they WERE sending aid
in the first place.
Here's a news item I can find years later on the subject...
" The two countries are always helping each other in times of need, and China has donated 5 million U.S. dollars in aid to the United States when Hurricane Katrina struck southern U.S. states in 2005, he said."
Remember to thank a vet.When you think that this "holiday" could not have happened without those men and women who fought the revolutionary war and then who fought the war of 1812 and all of the wars and police actions that we have participated in . You would not be living in the land of the free if some did not pay the ultimate price with their lives or their well being. Please remember to say thank you and offer up a prayer of thanks for the sacrifices that all of the men and women in our military and government services have made for us.To my fallen Heros I say thank you not to worry we have the watch, .To my brothers and sisters who have served and are still with us Thank you for my freedom!jxm mxrxxnus navy vetps go to u tube and look up the videos that say aboutmichael monsoor a navy seal team member who gave his life.
This is only one of many of this kind. Watching these things is a reminder that the fabric of this country was created by men and women who have struggled, fought, suffered, and died who dedicated and consecrated this ground in the hope that they were contributing to the new birth of freedom for others and for our country that Abraham Lincoln spoke of on the fields of Gettysburg following a Civil War battle. I also think of the men and women who have struggled to serve the Lord and to give a new birth of life to Christianity in the world some of the most noble warriors as well. Many thanks to the noble warriors who have fought and continue to fight for freedom!
We find ourselves in the peaceful possession, of the fairest portion of the earth, as regards extent of territory, fertility of soil, and salubrity of climate. We find ourselves under the government of a system of political institutions, conducing more essentially to the ends of civil and religious liberty, than any of which the history of former times tells us. We, when mounting the stage of existence, found ourselves the legal inheritors of these fundamental blessings. We toiled not in the acquirement or establishment of them--they are a legacy bequeathed us, by a once hardy, brave, and patriotic, but now lamented and departed race of ancestors. Their's was the task (and nobly they performed it) to possess themselves, and through themselves, us, of this goodly land; and to uprear upon its hills and its valleys, a political edifice of liberty and equal rights; 'tis ours only, to transmit these, the former, unprofaned by the foot of an invader; the latter, undecayed by the lapse of time and untorn by usurpation, to the latest generation that fate shall permit the world to know. This task of gratitude to our fathers, justice to ourselves, duty to posterity, and love for our species in general, all imperatively require us faithfully to perform.
How then shall we perform it?--At what point shall we expect the approach of danger? By what means shall we fortify against it?-- Shall we expect some transatlantic military giant, to step the Ocean, and crush us at a blow? Never!--All the armies of Europe, Asia and Africa combined, with all the treasure of the earth (our own excepted) in their military chest; with a Buonaparte for a commander, could not by force, take a drink from the Ohio, or make a track on the Blue Ridge, in a trial of a thousand years.
At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide. (...)
At the close of that struggle [the Revolution], nearly every adult male had been a participator in some of its scenes. The consequence was, that of those scenes, in the form of a husband, a father, a son or brother, a living history was to be found in every family-- a history bearing the indubitable testimonies of its own authenticity, in the limbs mangled, in the scars of wounds received, in the midst of the very scenes related--a history, too, that could be read and understood alike by all, the wise and the ignorant, the learned and the unlearned.--But those histories are gone. They can be read no more forever. They were a fortress of strength; but, what invading foeman could never do, the silent artillery of time has done; the leveling of its walls. They are gone.--They were a forest of giant oaks; but the all-resistless hurricane has swept over them, and left only, here and there, a lonely trunk, despoiled of its verdure, shorn of its foliage; unshading and unshaded, to murmur in a few gentle breezes, and to combat with its mutilated limbs, a few more ruder storms, then to sink, and be no more.
They were the pillars of the temple of liberty; and now, that they have crumbled away, that temple must fall, unless we, their descendants, supply their places with other pillars, hewn from the solid quarry of sober reason. Passion has helped us; but can do so no more. It will in future be our enemy. Reason, cold, calculating, unimpassioned reason, must furnish all the materials for our future support and defence.--Let those materials be moulded into general intelligence, sound morality, and in particular, a reverence for the constitution and laws: and, that we improved to the last; that we remained free to the last; that we revered his name to the last; that, during his long sleep, we permitted no hostile foot to pass over or desecrate his resting place; shall be that which to learn the last trump shall awaken our WASHINGTON.
Upon these let the proud fabric of freedom rest, as the rock of its basis; and as truly as has been said of the only greater institution, "the gates of hell shall not prevail against it
I heard part of a pretty good little piece on American the other day. I have tried to look for it on YouTube, but since I was working and only caught part of it I don't know who did it. The only thing I do know is that it was a fairly recent recording by a Canadian man. I don't know if he was a celebrity or not.
This sounds familiar, and I think it's sort of an urban legend that goes around every 4th of July.
In it he mentioned that America sends aid all over the world - quickly - yet doesn't receive even an offer to help by other nations when a disaster hits here at home. He cited the Tsunami a few years back and contrasted it to the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.
Actually this isn't completely true. I think we can be proud that we do help others around the world (although we give far less per capita than most other first world nations), but during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the world did send aid. I remember there was controversy here in the political forum when the Mexican military came up to the U.S. and helped. In fact, Castro even offered to send some of Cuba's world renowned doctors to help, which was rejected.
In any case, I hate to nitpick too much, but I prefer to see our nation in it's great beauty as well as it's ugliness. It makes it more complete of a picture to see both sides.
Mr. P - I should have corrected my post - but I thought that was done by both WordWolf's post and then the link to the Gordon Sinclair article that TommyZ posted.
I also prefer to look at our country from both sides. The editorial was especially interesting to me because it was not done by an American.
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Watered Garden
"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. —"
I was watching Red, White and Boom last night on TV and wondered if the men who drafted and signed this document would be proud, ashamed, or horrified at what we have become.
I hope some good things would make them proud.
I fear some things would shame them.
They pledged their, "lives, fortunes and sacred honor." Where is the honor these days?
Where is the heart of this great country?
WG
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mstar1
For all its foibles and craziness I still think that this is a great place. As much as I can be totally appalled at times, I really wouldnt live anywhere else. I suppose thats what happens when you hand a country to people.
The soul of America gets beat down from time to time but I think that it is still strong and will eventually find a way.
I'd love to sit here on the fourth and play "stars and stripes forever",I heard this "love song" a few years back that captured a few things for me a little more honestly
My Strange Nation by Susan Werner
I think that the founders experiment, despite fits and stumbles is still working..
Happy Fourth Of July
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doojable
I heard part of a pretty good little piece on American the other day. I have tried to look for it on YouTube, but since I was working and only caught part of it I don't know who did it. The only thing I do know is that it was a fairly recent recording by a Canadian man. I don't know if he was a celebrity or not.
In it he mentioned that America sends aid all over the world - quickly - yet doesn't receive even an offer to help by other nations when a disaster hits here at home. He cited the Tsunami a few years back and contrasted it to the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.
It was a great little lesson, and while I'm sure there are some counterpoints to what was said, it did put a lot in perspective.
If anyone knows what I'm talking about, please either post it or PM me and let me know what it is I'm looking for. :)
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Kit Sober
Jacquie Lawson Happy Fourth of July card
(All the State flowers and an American Eagle)
I think that Jacquie Lawson (England) and so many fine people internationally as well are praying for the egacy and heritage of American integrity, kindness, and defense of the truth, protection of the less fortunate -- all the things of One Nation under God -- to regain a new birth of freedom.
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wrdsandwrks
Happy July 4!
Here's a quote from a letter John Adams wrote to his wife. He expected July 2 to become the national holiday because the Continental Congress declared the "United Colonies free and Independent States" on July 2. The document justifying the act of Congress was dated July 4th.
Enjoy your Pomp and Parades, Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations!
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doojable
Freebird with art:
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WordWolf
He must have been reading different newspapers than I read. Right after the Katrina disaster, I read that other countries who HAD
received aid during disasters where preparing to send aid here. I remember thinking that the SPECIFIC aid they were stating
under preparation would come in handy under the circumstance, but that's all the thought I gave it at the time.
Unless he's saying those countries CLAIMED they'd send aid, then didn't SEND any, he's unaware they WERE sending aid
in the first place.
Here's a news item I can find years later on the subject...
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-06/...ent_8323214.htm
" The two countries are always helping each other in times of need, and China has donated 5 million U.S. dollars in aid to the United States when Hurricane Katrina struck southern U.S. states in 2005, he said."
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doojable
Thanks.
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Kit Sober
from a friend:
This is only one of many of this kind. Watching these things is a reminder that the fabric of this country was created by men and women who have struggled, fought, suffered, and died who dedicated and consecrated this ground in the hope that they were contributing to the new birth of freedom for others and for our country that Abraham Lincoln spoke of on the fields of Gettysburg following a Civil War battle. I also think of the men and women who have struggled to serve the Lord and to give a new birth of life to Christianity in the world some of the most noble warriors as well. Many thanks to the noble warriors who have fought and continue to fight for freedom!Link to comment
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dmiller
Thanks Frank. I did, and I did. :)
Got home from work this evening and settled down with an American micro-brew beer.
Pulled out the 1962 Gibson RB-250 banjo (both it and all it's accesories made in U.S.A);
Sat under a flag (that I received in 2000 at the voting polls) on my front porch;
and picked the Star Spangled Banner Bluegrass style. It was a good day. :)
Happy Fourth to all.
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TOMMYZ
Dooj,
You're probably talking about the commentary by Gordon Sinclair called "The Americans". It was done in 1973 and still resonates today.
http://www.tysknews.com/Depts/Our_Culture/americans.htm
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doojable
Yes Tommy! That was it. You can tell that when I'm working I only listen to the radio with half an ear...
I did find it on YouTube. Thanks!
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WordWolf
The text of Gordon Sinclair's writing is here:
http://www.snopes.com/politics/quotes/sinclair.asp
A different article by a Romanian is here:
http://www.snopes.com/rumors/romania.asp#add
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now I see
Here's one in honor of our troops.
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now I see
Happy 4th!http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pShR8iZGRIA...feature=related
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cheranne
and.. remember the Alamo
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mstar1
Lincolns Lyceum Address 1838
Excerpt:
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likeaneagle
Thanks Mstar for posting this...
The gates of hell shall not prevail against it..
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Mister P-Mosh
This sounds familiar, and I think it's sort of an urban legend that goes around every 4th of July.
Actually this isn't completely true. I think we can be proud that we do help others around the world (although we give far less per capita than most other first world nations), but during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the world did send aid. I remember there was controversy here in the political forum when the Mexican military came up to the U.S. and helped. In fact, Castro even offered to send some of Cuba's world renowned doctors to help, which was rejected.
In any case, I hate to nitpick too much, but I prefer to see our nation in it's great beauty as well as it's ugliness. It makes it more complete of a picture to see both sides.
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doojable
Mr. P - I should have corrected my post - but I thought that was done by both WordWolf's post and then the link to the Gordon Sinclair article that TommyZ posted.
I also prefer to look at our country from both sides. The editorial was especially interesting to me because it was not done by an American.
Anyway... carry on.
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excathedra
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TOMMYZ
Makes me feel old that I don't have to verify the Gordon Sinclair story because I was in high school when it happened.
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