A few facts about Independence Day:

• The Continental Congress unanimously voted for Independence from England on July 2nd, 1776.
• Most everyone remembers that John Hancock was the first person to sign the Declaration, given his large signature at the bottom.  Most have forgotten that he was the President of the Continental Congress.
• The written Declaration of Independence is dated July 4th, 1776, however, that “final” Declaration wasn’t actually signed until August 2nd, 1776 in Philadelphia, PA, thanks in no small part to staunch opposition of Independence by the New York colony (who favored reconciliation).
• Five delegates signed after the August 2nd, 1776 party.  These included Elbridge Gerry, Oliver Wolcott, Lewis Morris, Matthew Thornton and Thomas McKean.
• The official, printed copies approved by the Continental Congress omitted the signature Delaware’s Thomas McKean — being the last to sign, well after August 2nd, 1776.   Some early “final” copies show the number of signing delegates at 55 instead of 56.
• Four Continental Congress delegates opposed Independence (tho their States approved) and never signed:  George Clinton (New York), Robert R. Livingston (New York), Thomas Willing (Pennsylvania), and John Dickinson (Delaware).
• The American Revolutionary War ended with the signing of Treaty of Paris on September 3, 1783.  That’s when we actually gained our Independence.
• Thomas Jeffersion and John Adams, considered two of the three writers of the Declaration of Independence (along with Ben Franklin), both coincidentally died on July 4th, 1826 — the 50th anniversary of the final draft of the Declaration of Independence.
• Despite being adopted as a Federal Holiday by Congress in 1870, it took until 1938 for Congress to declare Independence Day a Paid Federal Holiday.

     History notes over.  Happy Indepedence Day! You can now return to your family, friends, fireworks, barbecue and beer.  😉

     Umm… Okay, yes, we had the Strohaus, but …

     And there I thought, back in 1982, the “official” beers would have been any of those nine colors of World’s Fair Beer, which was easily as bad as the swill Jimmy Carter’s brother made…

     Ahh, but who the Hell am I to argue with this beautiful — and oh-so-tasteful — mirror-placque from back in the day…?

     I looked at my watch around noon today… “Why is December 7th so familiar?”

     I kept trying to figure it out… Then it hit me…

     1941.  The attack on Pearl Harbor.  Speeches by Roosevelt and Churchill.  Our Declaration of War.

     Funny how it was okay to have a multi-front war then, based on an unprovoked attack by the Japanese, and declaring it against Germany, who really hadn’t done anything to us at that point.

     How different is it, really, when they fly a couple of Jets into our buildings, unprovoked, and we declare war against both their nerve center and another genocidal maniac who was killing his people by the hundreds of thousands…?

     God Bless our Troops.

     Lest we forget as we enter the fray of our Brave New World:

The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled
was convincing the world he didn’t exist.
     — Charles Baudelaire, “The Generous Gambler”

     Sometimes, you read something that slants reality ever-so-slightly. 

     It’s a well-laid-out Conspiracy which didn’t do a damn thing for me.  It’s a theme we’re all to familiar with, anyway:
     Liberals accuse Conservatives of “One World Government” while surreptitiously kicking the legs out from under their own argument with their own objectives.  Republicans then attempt to “fix” the situation, all the why claiming that it happened due to a lack of foresight, while kicking the legs out from under their own argument by passing the first proposal to come along.
     They all come together in the middle, and we get screwed in the process.  No big friggin’ news there.

     Actually, the blog did get me thinking.

     But it wasn’t the Conspiracy theory…

     Instead, it was this statement by Dwight Eisenhower that struck me:

In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.

We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.

     “Knowlegeable citizenry,” schmitizenry… 

A long memory is the most subversive idea in America.
— George Wald

     For years, we’ve observed that peoples’ attentions spans are short, and their memories even shorter.  A perfect example of this is in the Obama campaign’s vicious attacks against Hillary Clinton, inciting mass hysteria over Sexism, and yet, when she dropped from the race, people forgot… and began blaming Republicans for said sexism, despite the confessions of so many prominent Democrats that it was them all along.

     The afforementioned blog was also haven to a quote suitable for a “Duh of the Day” award.  In reference to Obama making promises he has no intention of keeping, and in stark contrast to “knowlegeable citizenry,” someone replied:

No way he’ll bite the hand that feeds.

     I would counter with this, further showing that our memory has been disrupted for a good century and a half:

You can fool some of the people all of the time,
and all of the people some of the time,
but you can not fool all of the people all of the time.
— Abraham Lincoln 

     “Honest Abe” fooled a Hell of a lot of people, promising during his campaign and subsequent inauguration that it wasn’t his job to outlaw slavery, nor would he, as it was the right of each and free man to draw their own conclusions.  It was those statements that got him elected, but what did he do afterwards?
     Yes… He bit that hand pretty hard.
     Regardless of The Emancipation Proclamation’s forward-thinking and status as a defining document in our Nation’s history, the very nature of its passage is still a matter of great debate and conjecture.  There are many people, both black and white, who consider that our History books are incorrect, claiming that the Proclamation was nothing more than a political ploy designed to disable the ability of the Confederacy to operate autonomously.
     To a very large degree, it worked.  However, it was also the reason for Lincoln’s untimely demise, thus proving his own theory to be correct… You can’t fool all of the people all of the time.

     Back to the point, please show me a Politician who doesn’t bite the hand that feeds…

     Everyone knows that you can tell when Politicians are lying because their lips are moving.

     I almost said, “his lips,” but I didn’t want to come off as “sexist.”  *smirk*

     Today’s our country’s most important historic holiday, Independence Day, July 4th.  It commemorates the signing of our Declaration of Independence, the document which began the American Revolution and outlined, in no uncertain terms, that our “colony” would revolt from tyranny and come into it’s own.
     Last year, I wrote about the history of fireworks during the celebration, mostly because I kept hearing people complain about them.  It amazes me how people can forget history and sentiment so easily…

     Fireworks are beautiful, large and loud.  A proud display can give even those with the hardest hearts a smile, and a small display makes us wish for more.
     They’re also one of my favorite things to take photos of — freehand, without a tripod.

     Last year’s complaint has this year been replaced by, “Why do we have cookouts and drink beer?”

     For the very same reason I enjoy taking photos of fireworks.  For the same reason we can drive over to a secluded place and set off a massive display.  For the same we complain about “our loss of Freedoms” so much…
     The reason is simple:

     Because we can.

     As Americans, we take for granted what’s missing most everywhere else.  Like it’s been said a million times, “With Freedom comes great responsibility.”  As long as we can continue to act responsibly, we’ll never lose that.

     Happy Birthday, America!