feeling patriotic

[Shylady]

Today is July 4th and I feel very patriotic today. So I just want to take a few min and say thank you to every person that fought for America! One day a year to thank our vets is just not enough.These men and women had thier lives interuppted or destroyed so that we might live freely in this country! This is a great nation that is having a rough time in some areas now but it is still my home and as far as I am concerned the best country to live in. I love being an american and I am not ashamed to stand up and say so!
Actually the song by Lee Greenwood fits how i feel.

I am proud to be an American where at least I know I'm free
And i won't forget the men who died that gave that right to me.
I will glady stand up, next to them and defend her still today.
Cause there ain't no doubt.. I love this Land...God bless the USA!

*getting off my soapbox now*
have a safe and happy 4th and maybe even a party!

Shylady

 

[Flagg]

Long Live the President!

[Edited by Flagg on 07-04-2000 at 05:29 AM]

 

[Expertise]

Extremely laudible sentiment, dont forget they defended the freedom of others as well.

Happy Fourth

 

[Stevie]

Right on, have a good one my American friends.

 

[Gingersnap]

Thanks steve. Flagg you really should get laid you are getting a big boil on your face..

 

[Skibum]

Flagg, with our President an elected official, I don't think a "long live..." toast is appropriate. Smacks too much of royalty for our ex-colonial sensibilities. Thanks for the thought, though.

 

[Fallen Angel]

Hey the pres may not be that great but he does deserve to have a life.

While we celebrate our winning a battle for independance, the battles for freeedom and justice have been fought all over the world for most of recorded history. The fight is never an easy one as this little essay from my email shows.

------------------------------------

Something to ponder on the 4th of JULY and throughout the year. Have you ever wondered what happened to the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence?

Five signers were captured by the British as traitors, and tortured before they died.
Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned.
Two lost their sons serving in the Revolutionary Army; another had two sons captured.
Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or hardships of the Revolutionary War.

They signed and they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor.

What kind of men were they?
Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists. Eleven were merchants, nine were farmers and large plantation owners; men of means, well educated. But they signed the Declaration of Independence knowing full well that the penalty would be death if they were captured.
Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships swept from the seas by the British Navy. He sold his home and properties to pay his debts, and died in rags.
Thomas McKeam was so hounded by the British that he was forced to move his family almost constantly. He served in the Congress without pay, and his family was kept in hiding. His possessions were taken from him, and poverty
was his reward.
Vandals or soldiers looted the properties of Dillery, Hall, Clymer, Walton, Gwinnett, Heyward, Ruttledge, and Middleton.
At the battle of Yorktown, Thomas Nelson Jr, noted that the British General Cornwallis had taken over the Nelson home for his headquarters. He quietly urged General George Washington to open fire. The home was destroyed, and
Nelson died bankrupt.
Francis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed. The enemy jailed his wife, and she died within a few months.
John Hart was driven from his wife's bedside as she was dying. Their 13 children fled for their lives. His fields and his gristmill were laid to waste. For more than a year he lived in forests and caves, returning home to find his wife dead and his children vanished. A few weeks later he died from exhaustion and a broken heart.
Norris and Livingston suffered similar fates.
Such were the stories and sacrifices of the American Revolution. These were not wild-eyed, rabble-rousing ruffians. They were soft-spoken men of means and education. They had security, but they valued liberty more. Standing tall, straight, and unwavering, they pledged: "For the support of this declaration, with firm reliance on the protection of the divine providence, we mutually pledge to each other, our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor."
They gave you and me a free and independent America.
The history books never told you a lot about what happened in the Revolutionary War. We didn't fight just the British. We were British subjects at that time and we fought our own government!

Some of us take these liberties so much for granted, but we shouldn't. So, take a few minutes while enjoying your 4th of July holiday and silently thank these patriots. It's not much to ask for the price they paid.

Remember: freedom is never free!
It's time we get the word out that patriotism is NOT a sin, and the Fourth of July has more to it than beer, picnics, and baseball games.

Colonel (Dr)Jim Hayes, USAF
Dean Of The Desert

 

[Svedish_Chef]

Flagg, with our President an elected official, I don't think a "long live..." toast is appropriate. Smacks too much of royalty for our ex-colonial sensibilities. Thanks for the thought, though.

No he isn't elected... Bill was erected from the waist... the rest from 6 feet under

da Chef

 

[Flagg]

The symbol! The Symbol! Its in Latin! It means...

Maybe its true what they say about the british sense of humour being too subtle for the coarse american mind.

 

[Shylady]

Thank all of you that answered but especially Fallen you said it better than i did!
I am keeping my mouth shut about the president (probably a good thing if i were near him) but he will be gone soon. Hopefully we will have someone better for the next four years.

hmmmm sounds like i had an opinion there after all

 

[Dixon Carter Lee]

Argh. I've gotten six e-mails already from friends, all with that same "What happened to the signers of the Declaration" thing. I don't know where that damn thing came from, but I seriously question its veracity. And does it bother anyone else that it reads just like the Acts of the Apostles?

Flagg, I love you man, but can you give the snotty American digs a rest? I KNOW you're kidding and all, but, geez, what happened? Somebody smack you in the back of head with a Quarter-Pounder when you were ten, or what?

 

[Flagg]

Its Ok honey - they've got a Macdonalds in this god forsaken town.

Well damn it Dixon, I never knew you felt this way. But I tell you what man, I'm feeling all out of control and I just can't stop myself.

But as you said yourself, I AM just kidding so I guess we'll all live.

I love you too.

 

[Expertise]

I have been a little bit of a flag wavin' Moosehead guzzlin' beaver pettin' rabbidly jingoistic canuck lately so as a sort of penance here is a list of things we canadians are secretly or not so secretly envious of in the wonderfull US of A

1. The south and the sunbelt
2. Southern women and there accents(they make us quiver)
3. Your roads (never ever complain about yours until you have driven on ours)
4. Your President (yours is much more fun to make light of has a nicer house than our PM and has a much cooler plane)
5. Your military might (as a result of our woefull neglect of our military canadian foreign policy is reduced to "STOP...or i'll say stop again!" where as you guys get to say "stop or we'll crush you like a bug and if we cant do that we'll turn your cities into parking lots"
6.Disney World (Canadas Wonderland just doesn't compare)
7.New York City (There is no where like it)
8.Key West (my favorite place in the world)
9.Your flag (ours blows)
10.Your patriotism (sure you bitch about your country but just let someone try and fuck with you and see how quick you come together)

 

[Dixon Carter Lee]

Key West, eh? I swear, there are more Canadians living in Florida than Americans. I had nice little affair with a Canadian girl in Ft. Lauderdale once who told me that after years of 10 foot high snow drift winters she wanted to move as far south as she could possibly get.

I love Canada, except for your insidious plot to destroy our economy by clogging our vending machines with Canadian dimes.

 

[Siren]

 

[Isabella Thorne]

I used to live in the DC area for nearly 3 years .. I loved it .. it was so beautiful .. the drive over the Potomac River from Virginia to DC .. breathtaking when the cherry blossoms were in bloom .. everytime I see that scene in X-Files .. I say to my b/f I was there .. I was there LMAO

What i liked best was *ok this is a little corny but it is absolutely true i promise* the friendly people .. really .. our neighbours quickly became close, and i mean close, friends.

i remember at Christmas time we all got together and lined our street with these candles .. walking through the neighbourhood with the candles aglow on a Christmas eve while exchanging good wishes and smiles with our neghbours was a time I will always remember.

and Dixon .. w'as up with those vending machines not taking loonies, eh?

 

[Stevie]

lol, love you englishfolks...But really, it is time to get over losing the colonies, WE BEAT YOUR ASS !!!!!

and now we kiss your's

 

[Siren]

 

[Stevie]

sure Siren I'll do anything for you, except eat at a burger joint.