What are you going to do on Independence Day?

[squarejohn]

I'm firing all my guns; they need the exercise and I need a little fun.

 

[oggbashan]

Thank Americans for Omaha and Utah, Iwo Jima, Guadalcanal and all those Americans who died for freedom.

Send an email to my friend who was a tank commander at Omaha and survived.

Og

 

[TE999]

Hoisting Old Glory, watching a parade, cooking ribs, swimming, shooting fireworks and being happy that I was born in the USA. We may not be perfect by a long shot, but were leagues ahead of whatever country's in second place, by jingo.

 

[sr71plt]

Watching the Wimbledon men's final and the usual editing/writing. Maybe lunch out in our screened pavilion in the garden and reading of my current fiction and nonfiction reads, neither of which is of great interest.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Oh! I'm writing 2 horror stories, playing in my summer garden, and reading 2 books: a biography of Abe Lincoln and HEED THE THUNDER by Jim Thompson, a white trash epic.

 

[TheeGoatPig]

I'm driving down to south Jersey to pick my mother up from my sister's place, six hours in the car...

 

[_Lynn_]

I don't have any special plans for the day.

 

[SeaCat]

Taking the wife out to dinner at a local BBQ Joint we both like then it's off to downtown for the street festival and the Fireworks.

Cat

 

[theravenfox]

NOT WORKING I'm taking the day off.

Grilling, fireworks and general veg-dom with the hubby and kids.

 

[Handley_Page]

As little as possible; but I'll drink a toast to you all.

 

[Songcatcher]

Ron Paul’s attempt to audit the Federal Reserve, which was previously co-sponsored by 320 members of the House (HR 1207), failed by a vote of 229-198. All Republicans voted in favor of the measure with 23 Democrats crossing the aisle to vote with Republicans. 122 co-sponsors of HR 1207, all Democrats, jumped ship and voted against the measure.

 

[trysail]

The Declaration of Independence in American
by H. L. Mencken
From THE AMERICAN LANGUAGE, THIRD EDITION, 1923, pp. 398-402. First printed as "Essay in American" in the Baltimore Evening Sun, Nov. 7, 1921.


WHEN things get so balled up that the people of a country got to cut loose from some other country, and go it on their own hook, without asking no permission from nobody, excepting maybe God Almighty, then they ought to let everybody know why they done it, so that everybody can see they are not trying to put nothing over on nobody.

All we got to say on this proposition is this: first, me and you is as good as anybody else, and maybe a damn sight better; second, nobody ain't got no right to take away none of our rights; third, every man has got a right to live, to come and go as he pleases, and to have a good time whichever way he likes, so long as he don't interfere with nobody else. That any government that don't give a man them rights ain't worth a damn; also, people ought to choose the kind of government they want themselves, and nobody else ought to have no say in the matter. That whenever any government don't do this, then the people have got a right to give it the bum's rush and put in one that will take care of their interests. Of course, that don't mean having a revolution every day like them South American yellowbellies, or every time some jobholder goes to work and does something he ain't got no business to do. It is better to stand a little graft, etc., than to have revolutions all the time, like them coons, and any man that wasn't a anarchist or one of them I.W.W.'s would say the same. But when things get so bad that a man ain't hardly got no rights at all no more, but you might almost call him a slave, then everybody ought to get together and throw the grafters out, and put in new ones who won't carry on so high and steal so much, and then watch them. This is the proposition the people of these Colonies is up against, and they have got tired of it, and won't stand it no more. The administration of the present King, George III, has been rotten from the start, and when anybody kicked about it he always tried to get away with it by strong-arm work. Here is some of the rough stuff he has pulled:

He vetoed bills in the Legislature that everybody was in favor of, and hardly nobody was against.

He wouldn't allow no law to be passed without it was first put up to him, and then he stuck it in his pocket and let on he forgot about it, and didn't pay no attention to no kicks.

When people went to work and gone to him and asked him to put through a law about this or that, he give them their choice: either they had to shut down the Legislature and let him pass it all by himself, or they couldn't have it at all.

He made the Legislature meet at one-horse tank-towns, so that hardly nobody could get there and most of the leaders would stay home and let him go to work and do things like he wanted.

He give the Legislature the air, and sent the members home every time they stood up to him and give him a call-down or bawled him out.

When a Legislature was busted up he wouldn't allow no new one to be elected, so that there wasn't nobody left to run things, but anybody could walk in and do whatever they pleased.

He tried to scare people outen moving into these States, and made it so hard for a wop or one of these here kikes to get his papers that he would rather stay home and not try it, and then, when he come in, he wouldn't let him have no land, and so he either went home again or never come.

He monkeyed with the courts, and didn't hire enough judges to do the work, and so a person had to wait so long for his case to come up that he got sick of waiting, and went home, and so never got what was coming to him.

He got the judges under his thumb by turning them out when they done anything he didn't like, or by holding up their salaries, so that they had to knuckle down or not get no money.

He made a lot of new jobs, and give them to loafers that nobody knowed nothing about, and the poor people had to pay the bill, whether they could or not.

Without no war going on, he kept an army loafing around the country, no matter how much people kicked about it.

He let the army run things to suit theirself and never paid no attention whatsoever to nobody which didn't wear no uniform.

He let grafters run loose, from God knows where, and give them the say in everything, and let them put over such things as the following:

Making poor people board and lodge a lot of soldiers they ain't got no use for, and don't want to see loafing around.

When the soldiers kill a man, framing it up so that they would get off.

Interfering with business. Making us pay taxes without asking us whether we thought the things we had to pay taxes for was something that was worth paying taxes for or not.

When a man was arrested and asked for a jury trial, not letting him have no jury trial.

Chasing men out of the country, without being guilty of nothing, and trying them somewheres else for what they done here.

In countries that border on us, he put in bum governments and then tried to spread them out, so that by and by they would take in this country too, or make our own government as bum as they was.

He never paid no attention whatever to the Constitution, but he went to work and repealed laws that everybody was satisfied with and hardly nobody was against, and tried to fix the government so that he could do whatever he pleased.

He busted up the Legislatures and let on he could do all the work better by himself.

Now he washes his hands of us and even goes to work and declares war on us, so we don't owe him nothing, and whatever authority he ever bad he ain't got no more.

He has burned down towns, shot down people like dogs, and raised hell against us out on the ocean.

He hired whole regiments of Dutch, etc., to fight us, and told them they could have anything they wanted if they could take it away from us, and sicked these Dutch, etc., on us.

He grabbed our own people when he found them in ships on the ocean, and shoved guns into their hands, and made them fight against us, no matter how much they didn't want to.

He stirred up the Indians, and give them arms and ammunition, and told them to go to it, and they have killed men, women and chdren, and don't care which.

Every time he has went to work and pulled any of these things, we have went to work and put in a kick, but every time we have went to work and put in a kick he has went to work and did it again. When a man keeps on handing out such rough stuff all the time, all you can say is that he ain't got no class and ain't fitten to have no authority over people who have got any rights, and he ought to be kicked out.

When we complained to the English we didn't get no more satisfaction. Almost every day we give them plenty of warning that the politicians over there was doing things to us that they didn't have no right to do. We kept on reminding them who we was, and what we was doing here, and how we come to come here. We asked them to get us a square deal, and told them that if this thing kept on we'd have to do something about it and maybe they wouldn't like it. But the more we talked, the more they didn't pay no attention to us. Therefore, if they ain't for us they must be agin us, and we are ready to give them the fight of their lives, or to shake hands when it is over.

Therefore be it resolved, That we, the representatives of the people of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, hereby declare as follows: That the United States, which was the United Colonies in former times, is now a free country, and ought to be; that we have throwed out the English King and don't want to have nothing to do with him no more, and are not taking no more English orders no more; and that, being as we are now a free country, we can do anything that free countries can do, especially declare war, make peace, sign treaties, go into business, etc. And we swear on the Bible on this proposition, one and all, and agree to stick to it no matter what happens, whether we win or we lose, and whether we get away with it or get the worst of it, no matter whether we lose all our property by it or even get hung for it.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

I expect the Usual Suspects to get together, cut Old Glory into swatches, and have a communal ass wipe to celebrate their contempt for the occasion.

 

[Pure]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/04/11-pets-who-hate-the-4th_n_631280.html


as for the usual suspects, the Executive have asked me to pass along this secret directive: eetmay ouryay ellcay, anplay ouryay ikestray atyay evolutionray.

 

[Pure]

a couple questions for try

1) in what ways did the US citzens in 1800, have more freedom than in 1770?

2) in what ways did US citizens in 1800, have more freedoms than those in England at that date? (i.e. compare 'freedom' US v. England, in 1800).

3) are the US citizens [yes, i'm one] the freest in the world at present, compared to those in other 'advanced countries' (e.g. G-20)? for 'the freest' substitute 'living better lives' [=doing better, overall, in 'living well.']

 

[trysail]

It's rare that my running is timed. As a rough generality, I don't run against the clock; I run because I enjoy it. There's something— and I cannot define it more precisely— important to my conception of "being alive" that requires knowing I can cover 4-5-6-7 miles across country.


Running distances is as much a test of mental endurance as it is physical. Often, when I find myself tempted to quit in the middle of a route, I'll persuade myself to continue by rationalizing, "You've come this far; it'd be stupid to waste that effort— don't waste it; finish the job so you don't have to do it all over again!"


Having smoked cigarettes for thirty-eight years, I always wondered which would wear out first: my legs or my lungs. Now, after having quit smoking fifteen months ago, I'm fairly certain it'll be my legs that go first. If I can't run, I'll die.


Today, I'll complete the ( very ) abbreviated "Trysail 4th of July triathlon" with a bicycle ride and half an hour of swimming. After that, there'll be fireworks.


Date.......Distance (miles)....Time (Minutes)..... Speed (MPH)........ Rate (MM:SS/Mile)
10/4/1981........... 5.0............... 31.33.................. 9.6..................... 6:16
11/1/1981........... 9.3............... 64.70.................. 8.6..................... 6:57
11/30/1981.......... 26.2............. 201.62................ 7.8..................... 7:41
5/30/1982........... 6.2............... 44.08.................. 8.4..................... 7:07
9/26/1982........... 6.2............... 44.10.................. 8.4..................... 7:07
10/24/1982.......... 8.0............... 52.62.................. 9.1..................... 6:35
9/2/1985............. 6.2............... 43.93.................. 8.5..................... 7:05
10/4/1992........... 5.0............... 41.02.................. 7.3..................... 8:12
8/22/2006........... 4.0............... 37.92.................. 6.3..................... 9:29
8/26/2006........... 4.0............... 37.03.................. 6.5..................... 9:16
9/9/2006............. 4.0............... 34.72.................. 6.9..................... 8:41
6/5/2007............. 4.0............... 32.55.................. 7.4..................... 8:08
6/24/2007........... 4.0............... 32.38.................. 7.4..................... 8:06
9/13/2007........... 4.0............... 32.28.................. 7.4..................... 8:04
7/3/2010............. 4.0............... 36.13.................. 6.6..................... 9:02

 

[sr71plt]

Apparently what I was going to do on Independence Day was get a Christmas anthology off to the publisher.

 

[GonzoRisin]

Hung out with the family, ate steaks and corn, and that's basically it.