Woohoo! It’s July 4th. I for one will celebrate by watching some great fireworks shows, and re-reading the great Declaration of Independence.
I may also play some water-volleyball and feast on bbq chicken. All the while I’ll be remembering what our ancestors did to secure the freedom of this great country our ours. Have a wonderful day 
“of ours”, not “our ours” hehe.
I began my 4th listening to Bob Edwards and the gang read the Declaration of Independence on National Public Radio. It’s a tradition for me - got to get up and make sure the late Red Barber is still reading the line “He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly Firmness his Invasions on the Rights of the People.”
Ol’ Tom Jefferson could write, couldn’t he?
“manly Firmness”
Methinks old Tom had Sally Hemings sitting on his lap when he wrote that line.
Happy Birthday to us,
Happy Birthday to us …
227 and counting!
Time once again to follow old traditions by dressing like a native and dumping tea in the harbor. Who’s with me?
What says “Happy Birthday, America” more than The Stars and Stripes Forever played on marimbas?
(Thanks to Tom Edison and the Library of Congress.)
…from sea to shining sea!..
So, I scan the TV guide, thinking that “Independence Day” or “Born on the Fourth of July” have to be on tonight.
Nope. We’ve been granted the opportunity to watch “An American Werewolf in Paris.” WTF?
My ancestor, on my father’s side, who signed the Declaration is…are you ready for a really boring name? William Williams.
Perhaps you’d like to sign the Declaration of Independence yourself. There is a risk the King will capture us as traitors, but as our associate Mr. Franklin says, we must all hang together, or else we shall all hang seperately.
Well, I’m out of the country on the 4th for the first time ever. Oddly enough, there have been few firework-oriented events or patriotic songs here in San Jose, Costa Rica.
So I will have to sing the Stars and Stripes Forever softly to myself here so as to not disturb the other patrons of the internet cafe.
And for one day, I will not feel the slightest bit guilty about the way the US has treated this part of the world for the past 100 years
Today we took my son to see the town’s Fourth of July parade. The family immediately to our right spoke a language I did not recognize, and the family immediately to our left spoke English with Hindi-tinged accents. It really choked me up to see their two little kids waving little U.S. flags while their dad videotaped the parade. I felt like I was in the midst of what America is all about.
I went to the Boston Pops concert on the banks of the Charles River. You haven’t lived until you’ve seen the Mormon Tabernacle Choir do The Wave.
I saw the concert on TV. It’s the first time I’ve ever heard anyone utilize the lyrics for Stars that Sousa himself wrote.