Happy Independence Day!
We’re taking the day off to hang out with family and friends, watch fireworks, and celebrate Independence Day (United States).
If you’re celebrating today, too, we wish you a happy and safe Fourth! To everyone else, thank you for visiting MacDailyNews and iPodDailyNews!
MacDailyNews Note: Click for The Declaration of Independence.
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Oh, for the love of God, will all of you just shut up?
For those of us here in the USA, Happy Independence Day. Have a few beers, light up the grills, eat burgers and enjoy the fireworks. And for one day, forget about the government, our economy, politics etc. and have a nice day off from the office.
For those readers outside the USA, we know you don’t celebrate this day, but remember that whether or not we agree on things, I think we all believe in the cause of freedom, which here in the US is what today is all about. So despite what some of you might think of us, I invite you to celebrate with us for this cause alone. And of course, at the very least, have a few beers, light up the grills, eat burgers etc. etc.
This Henry van Dyke poem is written in 10” letters above my living room.
America for Me
‘Tis fine to see the Old World and travel up and down
Among the famous palaces and cities of renown,
To admire the crumblyh castles and the statues and kings
But now I think I’ve had enough of antiquated things.
So it’s home again, and home again, America for me!
My heart is turning home again and there I long to be,
In the land of youth and freedom, beyond the ocean bars,
Where the air is full of sunlight and the flag is full of stars.
Oh, London is a man’s town, there’s power in the air;
And Paris is a woman’s town, with flowers in her hair;
And it’s sweet to dream in Venice, and it’s great to study Rome;
But when it comes to living there is no place like home.
I like the German fir-woods in green battalions drilled;
I like the gardens of Versailles with flashing foutains filled;
But, oh, to take your had, my dear, and ramble for a day
In the friendly western woodland where Nature has her sway!
I know that Europe’s wonderful, yet something seems to lack!
The Past is too much with her, and the people looking back.
But the glory of the Present is to make the Future free–
We love our land for what she is and what she is to be.
Oh, it’s home again, and home again, America for me!
I want a ship that’s westward bound to plough the rolling sea,
To the blessed Land of Room Enough, beyond the ocean bars,
Where the air is full of sunlight and the flag is full of stars.
Henry Van Dyke
Actually, just this line.
Where the air is full of sunlight and the flag is full of stars.
Really great comments, Streetool. It reads like you pounded that one out on a Compaq 386 running Windows 3.11 for Workgroups.
I was confused about who to vote for, but you’ve made the choice easy. Your keen sense, resistance to empty hype and finger on the pulse of what’s best for ordinary Americans (not those smug and pretentious elitists) means one thing: Streetool for president of the United States in 2008! Is it too late to get her name on the ballot in all 50 states? I call on all American MDN readers to print Streetool’s magnificent post (if you know how to print documents from your stupid MACs) and distribute it in your neighborhoods as you gather names on a petition to get Streetool on the ballot. No time to lose.
For you assclown MAC-tards who buy overpriced, proprietary toy computers for elitists that don’t get it, basically what the wise Streetool is saying is OBAMA IS REALLY, REALLY BAD AND TERRIBLE THINGS WILL HAPPEN JUST LIKE THE MONSTER THAT LIVES UNDER YOUR BED WILL ATTACK YOU IN YOUR SLEEP IF YOU DON’T BEHAVE.
As you speak with your neighbors be sure to use name calling like “LibTards” and the super insightful fear-ridden clichés Streetool has generously provided us. I especially like the “elitist” charge. Obama is like you MAC dorks who think you’re so superior with your pretty little sissy computers and I-Pods.
Streetool ’08!
Your potential. Our passion.™
Independence Day is an important reminder of what personal freedom is all about. It would do the mandarins in DC a lot of good to remember that if they persist in removing freedoms as they have done for the last decade then they will be in danger of another revolution for freedom from oppression. And this is so easily seen by those of us outside the USA and not part of your culture.
Have a happy 4th of July and remember what it was all about in the first place. Don’t let fear be your tyrant.
“When we come back, we’d like to find the place in the same way we left it.”
Don’t forget you lost the war. The only time you’re coming back is to visit DisneyLand.
all americans should spend today thinking about the times when we used to have liberties, before the dark times, before the bushies. back when we had rights besides the freedom to be armed. you know when we had the little things, like wire tap free phones, habeas corpus, free speech everywhere and not just in special zones…..
Back when alcohol was illegal.
Back when women couldn’t vote.
Back when there was slavery.
Back when we used “the stocks” for punishment.
Back when the mere accusation of witchcraft could get you executed.
Back when there really wasn’t religious freedom, and being associated with the wrong groups would get you ostracized.
Back when exposing more than your face, hands, and feet in public were considered risqué.
Back when we were steamrolling over the native population.
etc. etc.
Ah yes, to the freedoms of the old days!
@Ferf Muckmeyer –
Thank you for providing one of the only rational posts here. I think most of these people would start a political debate at a funeral.
Seriously folks, chill out, go outside and enjoy some (hopefully) nice weather, eat some barbeque, toss back a couple brews, and help America celebrate our collective birthday.
@Mark S.
???Our birthday was on Tuesday July 1st, eh!
Happy B-day to all my American friends. We tease you, laugh at you, chide you, slap you up-side the head but we do that with the love one has for one’s brother….as people all do in close knit families. It is a time for fun and celebration.
P.S. And when you tease us, laugh at us, chide us, slap us up-side the head, try not to do it so hard….lol.
Yes, Jimithy, go out & celebrate the nice weather. And American way of life. And American food.
Polluted air and toxic waters, egoistic consumerism with no limits of excess, GM junk food and piss in beer bottles. Hooray!
” One has more personal freedoms and more human rights in many other Western countries (like Canada and most of Europe), than one does in the USA.”
What are you basing that on? The population of the UK is one of the most watched and least free in Europe. Spying on it’s citizens by the government and even city councils is commonplace.
In Sweden, the government can, without a warrant, tap any cross border phone call or read any email or fax.
And just how many rights do you have in European Eastern Bloc countries?
I could go on. In the US you have a lot of people who value their freedom and object loudly at any interference with it. In Europe people are used to being ruled by tyrants, so just put up with things no American would.
I’m going to play with fireworks today…. hopefully I don’t blow my hands off!!!
streetfool,
“They will do this because you are weak and need Czar Obama and Queen Michelle to protect you. Over Privileged, Enabled, Hypocritical Elitist AssClowns. Do dont believe the HYPE.”
That kind of free speech is harmful to our Nation. Try opposing the people you disagree with using intelligence. Its a lot harder I know, but OUR country is worth it.
I also can say Bless America, and mean it…
@ 3D Danny, man from 2020
Can you also say ‘God’ Bless America and mean it as the Founders did?
“Back when women couldn’t vote.”
Hey, you say that like it was a bad thing!
Yeh-heh-heh-heh-hehessssssssss . . .
Happy INDEPENDENCE Day ! ! !
Happy July 4th!
However, inbetween the BBQ and beers, remember WHY America was founded, and don’t EVER let Washington DC become a government King George III would be proud of, otherwise the USA’s existence and purpose become meaningless.
Remember Jefferson’s words, “If we were instructed from Washington [DC] when to reap and sow; we would soon want bread.”
In other words, don’t let ‘1984’ become any more of a reality than it already has.
Food for thought. Enjoy the day!
> Happy Birthday to the greatest nation on Earth!
Surely that is not for 4th July but for 14th July!
de Villiers
So I suppose Bender would rather whine on the internet about the obvious underbelly of humanity, while undoubtedly sitting upon his throne stitched from bitterness and hypocrisy.
Seriously, lighten up for one day.
“” One has more personal freedoms and more human rights in many other Western countries (like Canada and most of Europe), than one does in the USA.”
What are you basing that on? The population of the UK is one of the most watched and least free in Europe. Spying on it’s citizens by the government and even city councils is commonplace.
In Sweden, the government can, without a warrant, tap any cross border phone call or read any email or fax.”
i am lost, how is this different from america today?
“Can you also say ‘God’ Bless America and mean it as the Founders did?”
which founders? Paine who said that god was the only evil? or Franklin the Deist? or Jefferson who said that man would not be free until the last king was strangled with the entrails of the last priest?
the “founded on god” story of America has only 2 problems. 1. if it is true, it is no reason to remain so, and 2. it isn’t true.
sorry, i can’t give it a rest, as long as fools like you spout lies and ignorance about things you know nothing about, then i will be here to call your bluff. like one of those founders “I have sworn . . . eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.”
all your ignorant ideologies are thus fair game. i will rest when you and your kind are no longer fools.
@Jimithy
Yes, today is a celebration, but America’s future is a serious matter. With words like ‘democracy’ and ‘freedom’ so overused and misappropriated that they’ve become hollow it’s important for any American to at let spend a minute reflecting on WHY they even have an Independence Day.
Remain unconcerned and ignorant and you’ll get the government you richly deserve.
God Bless America! Have a great Fourth of July everyone. Eat some, laugh a lot, spend time with friends and family, play some, say a prayer for those in government service, and don’t forget to send up a prayer for the troops.
shen, are you from China or Russia?
GOD BLESS AMERICA (translation) –
May the deity you so primitively worship be perceived as treating your nation-state with favoritism!
What kind of men were the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence and who, by their signing, committed an act of treason against the crown?
These were men of substantial property. They had economic security as few men had in the 18th century. Each had more to lose from revolution than he had to gain by it.
The penalty for treason was death by hanging. And remember: the British fleet was already in New York Harbor. They were sober men. Raise up by the Lord to perform a sacred work. It was principle, not property, that had brought these men to Philadelphia.
Stephan Hopkins, from Rhode Island, was a man past 60. As he signed with a shaking pen, he declared: “My hand trembles, but my heart does not.”
Even before the list was published, the British marked down every member of Congress suspected of having put his name to treason. All of them became the objects of vicious manhunts.
– Francis Lewis, New York delegate saw his home plundered and his estates completely destroyed by British soldiers. Mrs. Lewis was captured and treated with great brutality. She died from the effects of her abuse.
– Philips Livingstone had all his great holdings in New York confiscated.
– Robert Morris, merchant prince of Philadelphia, delegate and signer, met Washington’s appeals and pleas for money year after year. He made and raised arms and provisions which made it possible for Washington to cross the Delaware at Trenton.
– William Ellery, Rhode Island delegate, saw his property and home burned to the ground.
– Thomas Nelson, signer of Virginia, was at the front in command of the Virginia military forces. With British General Charles Cornwallis in Yorktown, fire from 70 heavy American guns began to destroy Yorktown piece by piece. Lord Cornwallis and his staff moved their headquarters into Nelson’s home. While American cannonballs were making a shambles of the town, the house of Governor Nelson remained untouched. Nelson turned in rage to the American gunners and asked, “Why do you spare my home?” They replied, “Sir, out of respect to you.” Nelson cried, “Give me the cannon!” and fired on his magnificent home himself, smashing it to bits. But Nelson’s sacrifice was not quite over. He had raised $2 million for the Revolutionary cause by pledging his own estates. When the loans came due, a newer peacetime Congress refused to honor them, and Nelson’s property was forfeited. He was never reimbursed. He died, impoverished, a few years later at the age of 50.
Lives, fortunes, honor!!
Of those 56 who signed the Declaration of Independence, nine died of wounds or hardships during the war. Five were captured and imprisoned, in each case with brutal treatment. Several lost wives, sons or entire families. One lost his 13 children. Two wives were brutally treated. All were part of manhunts and driven from their homes. Twelve signers had their homes completely burned. Seventeen lost everything they owned. Yet not one defected or went back on his pledged word.
— And, finally, there is the New Jersey Signer, Abraham Clark. He gave two sons to the officer corps in the Revolutionary Army. They were captured and sent to that infamous British prison ship afloat in New York Harbor known as the hell ship “Jersey,” where 11,000 American captives were to die. The younger Clarks were treated with a special brutality because of their father. One was put in solitary and given no food. With the end almost in sight with the war almost won, no one would have blamed Abraham Clark for acceding to the British request when they offered him his sons’ lives if he would recant and come out for the King and Parliament. The utter despair in this man’s heart, the anguish in his very soul, must reach out to each one of us down through these 220+ years with he answer: “No.”
The 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence proved by their every deed that they made no idle boast when they composed the most beloved line in American history. “And for the support of this Declaration with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.”
The declaration is one of the most noble and beautiful political documents in human history. The closest thing we have to Scripture written by man is: “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?”
They were forged by great sacrifice. These are living words that satisfy the deepest cries for liberty in the human spirit. “Sacred honor” isn’t a phrase we use much these days, but every American’s life is touched by the greatness of this, the Founders’ legacy. It is freedom, tested by blood, and watered with tears.
Oh beautiful for heroes proved
In liberating strife,
Who more than self their country loved,
And mercy more than life!
“Happy 4th”
“Surely that is not for 4th July but for 14th July!”
It’s not really a significant date. It’s easy to get French to surrender, even to each other. In fact in some parts of France, especially near her borders, “je me rends” is a greeting, just like “bonjour”.