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The Largest re-up in American History so worth the look.. it will make you proud. God Bless our Troops, God Bless America!

Not sure what to make of this. Over the 4th July Ellison spent time in Kenya with Obamas grandma. This from Star Tribune: "The 10-day journey, which ended Monday, culminated in a July 4th reception at the U.S. ambassador's residence in Nairobi, Kenya, where Ellison met Sarah Hussein Onyango Obama, the grandmother of presidential candidate Barack Obama." I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall for this conversation.

In Chicago, pan pizza rules. But in Iraq it's more like panned pizza, as the military serves a ketchup/sliced hot dog mutant. (At least the crust isn't a bun.) Retired Air Force Master Sgt. Mark Evans of Elk Grove Village and teen son Kent decided to deliver, hoping to ship pan pizzas to troops for Independence Day. They did it with cash donations and help from DHL and Lou Malnati's. Here's how the mission unfolded. 2145 hours, May 30: Evans and his son are chowing down on Lou Malnati's when they hear a news report on Iraq. Kent wonders about...

WOW and DOUBLE WOW is the only way I can describe the Patriotic Americans that attended the Walter Reed and Olney FReeps. It’s Saturday afternoon as I started this combined AAR and my heart still pounds with pride over all those who came out, especially to Walter Reed on the evening of the Fourth. Since I’m honored this week to write the Walter Reed AAR and usually write the Olney AAR, I had to combine the two because of their similarities. Several weeks ago a question as to who will be at Walter Reed came up. About 4 or 5...

My hero -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Asher Baier, 5, prepares for a neighborhood bike parade at River Heights Elementary School Thursday morning in honor of Independence Day. Baier attended the parade with his mother, Tara. His father just returned from a three-year tour of duty in Iraq and is scheduled to return to Iraq shortly. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The founding fathers of this country had a passion to be independent of the persistent tyranny and irresponsibility of the then-king of England, George III. They even delineated many of his abuses toward the American colonies in our nation’s most landmark document, the Declaration of Independence. The founders felt so strongly about these abuses that it led to a revolution against Great Britain, which ultimately led to our independence. Our independence today is not bound by any external sovereign power, although we are under constant threat of a different kind of external tyranny – Islamic fascism. However, our independence today...

We have always been a moral and religious people — and evidently we are becoming more so, according to a January 2006 poll conducted by the Barna Research Group. The percentage of the United States that can be classified by their beliefs as “born again” (not self-identifying by that phrase) has risen in the last two decades from 31 percent to 45 percent. As one of the primary contributors to our founding documents and our second U.S. president, John Adams, cautioned, our government is wholly inadequate for a people who are not moral and religious. America was a new and...

Baghdad, July 5, 2008 – Servicemembers from all over Iraq gathered here today in the Al Faw Palace rotunda on Camp Victory, to re-enlist and celebrate America’s Independence Day. U.S. Army Gen. David Petraeus, commanding general, Multinational Force Iraq, reenlisted 1,215 U.S. servicemembers from all over Iraq July 4, 2008, during a ceremony in the Al Faw Palace rotunda at Camp Victrory in Baghdad. Photo by MNF-I Public Affairs  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. All 1,215 servicemembers celebrated by raising their right hand and pledging to continue defending the ‘land of the free’ in what is the largest...

For Immediate ReleaseOffice of the Press SecretaryJuly 5, 2008 President's Radio Address   President's Radio Address  Audio  En Español       Independence Day THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. This weekend, Americans are celebrating the anniversary of our Nation's independence. Two hundred and thirty-two years ago, our Founding Fathers came together in Philadelphia to proclaim that all men are created equal and that they are endowed by their Creator with unalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The man who wrote those immortal words was Thomas Jefferson. Yesterday, I celebrated the Fourth of July at Monticello, Jefferson's home in Virginia. While there,...

Petraeus: “You and your comrades here have been described as America’s new greatest generation, and, in my view, you have more than earned that description. It is the greatest of honors to soldier here with you.”

Not until a year after Lexington did the Continental Congress muster the resolve to declare the 13 colonies free and independent states, no longer subject to Parliament or Crown. Not for five years after July 4, 1776, did George Washington's army truly attain America's independence at Yorktown. Even then, Washington and his aide Alexander Hamilton knew that the 13 states, while politically independent, were dependent upon Europe for the necessities of their national life. Without French ships and guns, French muskets and troops, the Americans could not have forced Gen. Cornwallis' surrender at Yorktown. Cornwallis would have sailed away, as...

If anyone thinks that in this time of conservative disarray, Rush Limbaugh has lost his audience, he hasn't. I can vouch for that. On Tuesday, my column suggested that Americans perhaps should not celebrate this Independence Day in the usual ways, should instead observe the holiday through reflection and atonement. My reason: the dearth of public outrage and shame over the policies of torture and open-ended detention that have marred the war on terror.

OAKLAND -- The fact that fireworks are illegal and potentially dangerous did not prevent many Oakland residents from setting them off on Friday night. KTVU's Amber Lee found adults and children playing with fireworks on 100th Avenue. "I spent a hundred dollars for my kids, for the Fourth of July", said Vitalino Acabal of Oakland. He insisted it was just part of summer vacation fun. A few blocks away, a four year old girl and her 12 year old brother were setting off bottle rockets. Their 15 year old sister said their parents weren't home, but it's part of her...

America has become an empire. Everyone says so. This is a surprise to most Americans, since few imagined that they were building such a thing. But, as historians such as Walter Nugent and Robert Kagan have recently taught us, Americans have been at this imperialist expansionism for quite some time — really since the beginning of the republic. How else to explain that the United States has gone from a handful of agrarian colonies to a world-spanning colossus in the space of only a few centuries? As you read this, American military might is deployed across the planet. The U.S....

Independence Day 2008 finds the United States too dependent on foreign oil and in a surly mood about the president, Congress, food prices, home values and much else. Americans need to reassert a national character trait to put the country back on a more productive path. That trait is American exceptionalism, the product of mixing individualism, freedom and national vision. This virtue, first identified by Alexis de Tocqueville in his 1835 treatise "Democracy in America," has led to unrivaled private and public accomplishment: from the westward expansion that built a continental nation to NASA's mission to colonize the moon; from...

On this 4th of July, President Bush attended the 46th Annual Independence Day Celebration and Naturalization Ceremony at Monticello in Charlottesville, Virginia (Transcript) Those of you taking the oath of citizenship at this ceremony hail from 30 different nations. You represent many different ethnicities and races and religions. But you all have one thing in common -- and that is a shared love of freedom. This love of liberty is what binds our nation together, and this is the love that makes us all Americans. You may have heard about the uninvited guests at today's ceremony. More on that...

Several reporters from The New York Times board the Q train at DeKalb Avenue during the morning rush and marvel at the diversity of the 128 passengers in a single subway car and see “all the homelands, all the ages, all the professions” that comprise “New York City in the summer of 2008.”The Stiletto offers her own tribute to our nation’s diversity on this, the 232nd anniversary of our Declaration of Independence from monarchal tyranny – especially the diverse ways in which we choose to pursue happiness (or not) - with this collection of articles: † Couch Potatoes (and those...

Galatians 5:1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

Last summer, it was Chinese-made toys, pet food and meat that caused concern. This July 4th holiday, there are new worries about the overly explosive nature of its fireworks. This week, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) issued a report saying it found that nearly half of the shipments they inspected coming from China do not meet Federal safety guidelines. That's especially worrying since, according the American Pyrotechnic Association, 98 percent of fireworks used in backyards and front lawns across America are manufactured in China. NEWSWEEK's Caitlin McDevitt spoke with Scott Wolfson, a chief spokesman for the Commission about its...

Cross posted from Radarsite Bush used phony patriotism to start war From the Chicago Sun Times http://www.suntimes.com/news/greeley/1034720,CST-EDT-greel02.articleANDREW GREELEY agreel@aol.comThe Russians call World War II "The Great Patriotic War." The current longest of our wars could well be called the same thing. It is a war that originated in the orgy of patriotism ("U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.!") that followed the attack on the World Trade Center and Pentagon and has been sustained by the patriotism of those who support it ("Our soldiers are defending American freedom") and false promises of some latter-day prophets ("We are winning the war in Iraq.") It is...

       Happy Birthday America!In the United States, Independence Day commonly known as the Fourth of July is a federal holiday commemorating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, declaring independence from England.  -Photo of a Miami Fourth of JulyHere are Some items that remind us of this special time of year: (Photo: Joseph Ambrose holding the flag that draped his son's casket from the Korean War. Ambrose is a WWI veteran.)   So that we may enjoy our BBQ, someone has to stand the watch. While we enjoy swimming in our pools, someone has to...

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. 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,...

Rembember!

Members of the terrorist-supporting group Code Pink repeatedly heckled President Bush's speech at a naturalization ceremony for new American citizens this morning at Monticello, the home of Declaration of Independence author, Thomas Jefferson.Code Pinko Desiree Farooz, infamous for getting in the face of Sec. of State Condoleezza Rice at a House hearing last fall in a stunning breakdown of security, rushed the stage where President Bush was speaking. Taking advantage of distractive actions being taken by other Code Pinkos, Farooz was able to get past the front row and turn toward the stage before she was intercepted by security. It...

Mary Patricia McFadyen, a native of Scotland, stepped up to the microphone just moments after being sworn in as an American citizen and thanked her friends and neighbors. But, she added, President Bush was also a powerful influence in her decision. “Mr. President, I’d like to thank you for inspiring me to complete this process,” she said. “Without you, this day may have never come.” For new citizens like McFadyen, it seemed especially fitting that the president honored 72 new citizens and reflected on Thomas Jefferson’s legacy during the 46th annual Independence Day and Naturalization Ceremony at Monticello.

Lis and Robert Billingsley — retirees, volunteers and proud American Legion members — said they had exactly one word to describe sales this holiday period at the fireworks stand they run here for the Legion. “Lousy,” said Ms. Billingsley, speaking almost in unison with her husband. “Thanks to the TV and the fires they are putting on the TV, it’s the worst year ever.” Hundreds of blazes have ravaged sections of parched California over the last two weeks, burning more than 500,000 acres, destroying homes and other property, and costing the already budget-challenged state more than $50 million in firefighting...

Although the Fourth of July is a great day to be alive for most Americans, it causes the bile to boil in moonbats' veins, so that it seeps out through their pores in the most hideous displays. The appalling Chris Satullo is hardly the only example. Below are some lowlights from a seasonal piece at The Progressive: "It's July 4th again, a day of near-compulsory flag-waving and nation-worshipping. Count me out. Spare me the puerile parades. Don't play that martial music, white boy. And don't befoul nature's sky with your F-16s. […]" "For when you stop to think about it,...

CNN) -- How would the likes of Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin feel about the way the United States has turned out 232 years after declaring its independence? Most Americans say they're proud to be citizens, but most also think the Founding Fathers wouldn't be pleased. Not pleased, a majority of Americans recently polled said. According to a new CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey, 69 percent of adult Americans who responded to a poll June 26-29 said the signers of the Declaration of Independence would be disappointed by the way the nation has turned out overall. Twenty-nine percent responded "pleased," the...

Happy Independence Day America!! Thank you, Lady Jag

WASHINGTON, July 3, 2008 – More than 1,100 servicemembers stationed in Iraq will celebrate the nation’s birthday tomorrow by re-enlisting, the senior enlisted leader for Multinational Force Iraq said today. Army Command Sgt. Maj. Marvin L. Hill said 1,157 soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines will re-enlist at the Al Faw Palace at Camp Victory, in Baghdad. This may be the largest re-enlistment ceremony since the all-volunteer force began in 1973, Hill said via phone from Baghdad. This is becoming an annual blockbuster event for the command. Last year, 588 servicemembers re-enlisted. “We are extremely proud of the accomplishments we have...

jesse helms has passed away

Marine Corps Sergeants Jermaine Nelson and Ryan Weemer will celebrate Independence Day in a Camp Pendleton brig instead of the San Bernardino County Jail, Defend Our Marines has learned. Sergeants Jermaine Nelson and Ryan Weemer, both veterans of the famous "Hell House" fight at Fallujah, Iraq, are currently being held in the San Bernardino County federal lockup for contempt of court charges. They were locked up after refusing to talk to a Grand Jury seated in Riverside, California. A spokesman at Camp Pendleton is still trying to determine whether they have already been transferred to the Camp Pendleton brig at...

More than 1,200 soldiers serving in Iraq gave America a precious gift today. BAGHDAD (AFP) - More than 1,200 US troops serving in Iraq signed up for extended service in the military to mark America’s national day on Friday. At least 1,215 troops re-enlisted for periods ranging from two to six years at the ceremony held at the spacious Al-Faw palace of executed dictator Saddam Hussein near Baghdad airport. General David Petraeus, the head of US-led coalition forces in Iraq, said he was “proud of their decision to re-enlist and help the people of Iraq win their most important battle...

Happy 4th of July. Enjoy the long weekend, but please pause to remember those who fought and died to make that enjoyment possible. Freedom is never free. A free people claim their rights as derived from the laws of nature, and not as the gift of their chief magistrate. -- Thomas Jefferson, Rights of British America, 1774 Poem: It is the Soldier...

Would today's Democrats ever agree to the language in this document written by our Founding Fathers?

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776. The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that...

‘Decades later the Declaration of Independence was canonized as American scripture,” the vinegary historian Walter McDougall writes of the nation’s founding document, “but in 1776 it was generally read once — in army camps, taverns, and village greens — cheered, and forgotten.” Its fate might have been to be forgotten forevermore, if it weren’t for George Washington and his Continental Army. When our great adventure in liberty still seemed an impossible risk, they were the embodiment and vindicators of the Declaration. Our nation was born on the shoulders of an army, whose exertions and principled patriotism gave the famous parchment...

INDEPENDENCE DAY–JULY 4TH, 2008 July 3rd, 2008 HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY, AMERICA! Click the link to hear Lee Greenwood’s tribute to our nation and to the men who died to keep it free, GOD BLESS THE USA, aka, PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN: http://www.sceniclasvegas.com/proud_to_be.html God Bless The USA If tomorrow all the things were gone I’d worked for all my life, And I had to start again with just my children and my wife, I’d thank my lucky stars to be living here today, ‘Cause the flag still stands for freedom and they can’t take that away. I’m proud to be...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A sculpture of the signing of the Declaration of Independence made from a one-tonne block of cheddar cheese glistened on the sidewalk of Times Square in New York on Thursday as an artist's tribute to the Fourth of July. "It's very patriotic, using the signing of the Declaration of Independence, bringing Americans together for the Fourth," said Troy Landwehr, who carved the sculpture for cracker company Cheez-It to celebrate U.S. Independence Day. He worked eight hours a day for a week in a 40-degree cooler carving the block of Wisconsin cheddar. "The cheddar has been pasteurized...

In honor of the I start this thread on Thursday, since most of us will have the day off to celebrate, tomorrow. Americans with a taste for vengeance this Fourth of July can take their aggressions out with a bang. The fuse on an Exploding Bin Laden Noggin burns brightly. The fountain, a spoof of al-Qaida leader and suspected terrorist Osama Bin Laden, is among this year’s most popular fireworks. "No. No. No. No. No," said Steve Nebel as he walked through the Bob’s Fireworks tent on Highway 763 last night combing the tables for a specific fountain. The object...

A Vietnam vet friend of mine argues that maintaining a democracy requires three things: a passion for freedom, tolerance for diversity and intolerance for threats. A letter from a reader, responding to a column on Iraq's struggling democracy, suggested I write about the United States' own tortuous path -- sketching a nation that began with limited voting rights and confronted powerful factions, ethnic animosities, urban riot, rural rebellion and destructive civil war. The reader thought America's saga might help the public "understand that this democracy thing is hard." Hard indeed. Mull my friend's threefold guidance, and you'll find tricky paradox...

We invite ALL Americans to join us for the Celebration Event of the Year!!! When: JULY 4th, 2008!!! Where: CAMP VIGILANCE, Boulevard, CA Event Time: 9:00 AM - 10:00 PM Border Watch: For Patriots Who Wish To Stay, There Will Be A Weekend Border Watch -July 5th & 6th!! The Unity of Groups: The event is sponsored by California Coalition for Immigration Reform, Save Our State, The Minuteman Corps of CA Inc, The Minuteman Civil Defense Corps of CA, The San Diego Minutemen, The Escondido Minuteman Brigade, The Antelope Valley Minutemen and others!!!!! July 4th festivities will include guest speakers,...

Friday morning, July 4, our nation marks for the 232nd time the signing of the Declaration of Independence, which we have always regarded as the event that makes us what we are. Also we have regarded it as the event that marks us a special nation, a nation holding out a light to guide the rest of the world. Always, that is, until lately. Today critics celebrate that the world is passing us by. Fareed Zachariah declares: “America remains the global superpower today, but it is an enfeebled one.” China and India will soon tower above us. Amy Chua writes...

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA. – President George W. Bush will attend the July 4 event at Monticello, home of Thomas Jefferson, the White House has announced. Bush will be the featured speaker at Monticello’s 46th annual Independence Day Celebration and Naturalization Ceremony. He will become the fourth sitting president to participate in Independence Day activities at Monticello, joining Franklin D. Roosevelt (1936), Harry S. Truman (1947), and Gerald R. Ford (1976). “We are truly honored to have President Bush as our featured speaker on July 4, and regard it as a great compliment that he has chosen to spend part of the...

What follows is Thomas Jefferson's original draft of the Declaration of Independence from his Autobiography. A good portion of the text was deleted or changed by the Congressional delegates; these deletions are indicated by brackets (the last two paragraphs, Jefferson's original and Congress's version are presented side by side in Jefferson's text and here); changes made by Congress are also in brackets but are clearly marked. It was very important to Jefferson that he preserve his original document alongside the version eventually signed. Why? What are the significant differences? What do you make of these deletions? In the second paragraph,...

Jefferson and Washington fought a war for the principle of independence, meaning the moral right of an individual to live his own life as he sees fit. America's cities and towns will soon fill with parades, fireworks, and barbecues. They will be celebrating the Fourth of July, the 227th birthday of America. But one hopes that--on this second post-September 11 Independence Day--the speeches will contain fewer bromides and more attention to exactly what is being celebrated. The Fourth of July is Independence Day, but America's leaders and intellectuals have been trying to move us further and further away from the...

Friends of Israel Create Israel 60 Birthday Anniversary Website By Joel Leyden Israel News Agency Jerusalem ----- April 30, 2008 ....... Friends of Israel has created an Israel 60th Birthday celebration Website to secure global support for Israel and to provide relief for Israel charities. "The world is full of people who hate Israel for no reason other than it simply exists," says Aharon Grundman, Friends of Israel Vice President of International Marketing. "It makes no difference what Israel does, how many people this small democracy helps or how it struggles to defend itself. Israel will always remain wrong by...

Israel News Agency Creates Israel 60 Birthday Website Resource Center By Israel News Agency Staff Jerusalem ----- April 26, 2008 ....... The Israel News Agency has constructed the largest, most powerful resource Website center for Israel 60 birthday anniversary celebrations and events. The Israel 60 Birthday Website is entitled: Israel 60 Birthday Anniversary Celebrations Events. "From Israel 60 logos, T-shirts, posters, books, history, photos and maps to the latest news and videos as to what is happening in Jerusalem, London, New York and Washington, the INA is compiling and centralizing almost all information about Israel 60th birthday celebration into one...

Touch the Independence 11.11.2007 11:38 November 11 is when Poles celebrate Independence Day, in memory of when Poland re-emerged as a nation in 1918 after 123 years of partition. At 13.00, a historical parade will take place in the centre of Warsaw, through the streets Nowy Swiat and Krakowski Przedmieści. The celebrations take place under the title ‘Touch the Independence’. The National Army Museum is throwing open its doors and school children will be encouraged to touch and interact with the exhibits. The National Theatre is putting on a special show entitled ‘The Road to Independence’. Events are also taking...