It’s The Fourth Of July – Happy Independence Day

A very interesting perspective on the history of our nation’s founding. I shrink a little from some of his views, but I always love to read Gary North’s provocative perspectives! And, I learn things. Like did you know that the original Tea Party was actually a revolt against the British LOWERING the price of tea? John Hancock, a smuggler, was outraged by that; it would end his smuggling business. Who knew? 

Note to Michelle Bachmann. Do not try this on the campaign trail. 

http://lewrockwell.com/north/north1002.html

U.S. Air Force—-or when my father and many of yours were in service, the “ Army Air Corps”   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fX1fx1ZFb4&feature=related
And of course  U.S. Army! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJybwgtR970

… I love all of these songs from our Armed Forces. They’re exhilarating…!

Marine Hymn—a great arrangement, IMO

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJlNw0myBG4&NR=1

The Fourth of July…………..from a British perspective, HA!From “The Book of Days”–W. & R. Chambers–1869 version”THE FOURTH OF JULYWhere a country or a government has been baffled in its efforts to attain or preserve a hated rule over another people, it must be content to see its failure made the subject of never-ending triumph and exultation. The joy attached to the sense of escape or emancipation tends to perpetuate itself by periodical celebrations, in which it is not likely that the motives of the other party, or the general justice of the case, will be very carefully considered or allowed for. We may doubt if it be morally expedient thus to keep alive the memory of facts which as certainly infer mortification to one party as they do glorification to another: but we must all admit that it is only natural, and in a measure to be expected.”Hee Hee.In other words, “Alright already, you freed yourself from our control, but do you have to perpetually MAKE SUCH A BIG DAMN DEAL ABOUT IT?!!! Give it a rest!”Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha!Did you realize that Thomas Jefferson died on the Fourth of July? R.I.P. ya big lug.

Liberty and Loss
July 4, 2011 1:26 P.M.
By Mark Steyn

I’m afraid my Fourth of July column this year casts a bit of a damper on the fireworks. Perhaps the most depressing aspect of Obama’s speech last week was one so obvious it was barely remarked upon. As spokesperson for the spendaholic class, the President essentially told the world: Nothing’s gonna change. We’re gonna spend spend spend the republic into the abyss. In my soon to be imminently forthcoming book, I quote one of the most poignant lines from the Declaration of Independence, one that never made it into the final text – Thomas Jefferson’s parting words to his fellow British subjects across the seas: “We might have been a free and great people together.” There is a sense both of regret at the separation yet also of its inevitability. Today America is divided between those who see no problem with a bloated, wasteful four-trillion-bucks-a-year behemoth, and those who understand it’s killing the country. A betting man might wonder how long this “free and great people” will wish to remain “together”, especially when the spendaholics’ policies seem consciously designed to fracture the citizenry: The old vs the young, the latter crippled by debt run up by the former. Government union workers vs a beleaguered small-business class, working till it dies to pay for the lavish pensions of those who retire in their 50s. Poor Hispanics vs poor whites, both chasing jobs that no longer exist. Young Hispanics vs old whites: 83 per cent of Medicare beneficiaries are white; 70 per cent of births in Dallas’ biggest hospital are Hispanic. In a post-prosperity America, that would seem an unlikely recipe for social tranquility. Feckless bankrupt states like California vs comparatively prudent, solvent states like New Hampshire: How many of the non-spendaholic jurisdictions are prepared to pick up the tab for Sacramento, Albany and the rest for the privilege of keeping 50 stars in Old Glory? This is not an age favorable to big, centralized entities that outlive their raison d’être – ask the Soviets and the Yugoslavs. I wonder if a 21st century Jefferson will have cause to modify the original’s farewell to his compatriots: “We might have stayed a free and great people together.”Not the happiest thought but Happy Independence Day nevertheless. And enjoy it while you can.

Today I visited/barbequed with neighbors who have an autistic son.  He played with my dog and laughed and smiled.  He even got close to me and talked. I was told he’s never done that before.

This is what we are about. The laughter and smiles of children. Best 4th of July ever. 

-
THE SIGNERS

Have you ever wondered what happened to the fifty-six men who signed the
Declaration of Independence? This is the price they paid:
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 in
the revolutionary army, another had two sons captured. Nine of the fifty-six
fought and died from wounds or hardships resulting from the Revolutionary War.

These men 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. All were men of means,
well educated. But they signed the Declaration of Independence knowing full well
that the penalty could 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 or both, looted the properties of Ellery, Clymer, Hall,
Walton, Gwinnett, Heyward, Ruttledge, and Middleton.
Perhaps one of the most inspiring examples of “undaunted resolution” was at
the Battle of Yorktown. Thomas Nelson, Jr. was returning from Philadelphia to
become Governor of Virginia and joined General Washington just outside of
Yorktown. He then noted that British General Cornwallis had taken over the
Nelson home for his headqurt, but that the patriot’s were directing their
artillery fire all over the town except for the vicinity of his own beautiful
home. Nelson asked why they were not firing in that direction, and the soldiers
replied, “Out of respect to you, Sir.” Nelson quietly urged General Washington
to open fire, and stepping forward to the nearest cannon, aimed at his own house
and fired. The other guns joined in, and the Nelson home was destroyed. Nelson
died bankrupt.
Francis Lewis’s Long Island home was looted and gutted, his home and
properties destroyed. His wife was thrown into a damp dark prison cell without a
bed. Health ruined, Mrs. Lewis soon died from the effects of the confinement.
The Lewis’s son would later die in British captivity, also.
“Honest John” Hart was driven from his wife’s bedside as she lay dying, when
British and Hessian troops invaded New Jersey just months after he signed the
Declaration. Their thirteen children fled for their lives. His fields and his
grist mill were laid to waste. All winter, and for more than a year, Hart lived
in forests and caves, finally returning home to find his wife dead, his
chidrvanished and his farm destroyed. Rebuilding proved too be too great a task.
A few weeks later, by the spring of 1779, John Hart was dead from exhaustion and
a broken heart.
Norris and Livingston suffered similar fates.
New Jersey’s Richard Stockton, after rescuing his wife and children from
advancing British troops, was betrayed by a loyalist, imprisoned, beaten and
nearly starved. He returned an invalid to find his home gutted, and his library
and papers burned. He, too, never recovered, dying in 1781 a broken man.
William Ellery of Rhode Island, who marveled that he had seen only “undaunted
resolution” in the faces of his co-signers, also had his home burned.
Only days after Lewis Morris of New York signed the Declaration, British
troops ravaged his 2,000-acre estate, butchered his cattle and drove his family
off the land. Three of Morris’ sons fought the British.
When the British seized the New York houses of the wealthy Philip Livingston,
he sold off everything else, and gave the money to the Revolution. He died in
1778.
Arthur Middleton, Edward Rutledge and Thomas Heyward Jr. went home to South
Carolin tight. In the British invasion of the South, Heyward was wounded and all
three were captured. As he rotted on a prison ship in St. Augustine, Heyward’s
plantation was raided, buildings burned, and his wife, who witnessed it all,
died. Other Southern signers suffered the same general fate.
Among the first to sign had been John Hancock, who wrote in big, bold script
so George III “could read my name without spectacles and could now double his
reward for 500 pounds for my head.” If the cause of the revolution commands it,
roared Hancock, “Burn Boston and make John Hancock a beggar!”
Here were men who believed in a cause far beyond themselves.
Such were the stories and sacrifices of the America 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.”

Report that Obama killed:
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/the-president-is-dead-fox-news-twitter-account-hacked/

I was reading the comments from the hackers who promise that more embarrassment for Fox is “imitate”…do you think they were trying to say “imminent”?

Thank you for this, RAmy !!!

Always a better article than the last one – you’re amazing!!!

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY

to you and everyone here at NoQuarter.