Yankee Doodle Dandy

I felt a little guilty, thinking that I may not have posted enough about the holiday, so here's more for you.

Mwah! Happy Fourth!

Making It Real - From Марко (Mark)

From Mark in the comments:

Марко Фризия said...

I have seizures from a traumatic brain injury I suffered in the U.S. Army. I also have been diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. I am on the Department of Defense email list and I receive casualty reports. Each name is very painful to read. The last four casualties (all from the same North Carolina National Guard unit) died June 29 in Baghdad from an improvised explosive device planted by the roadside. Their names: SFC Edward Kramer, SGT Roger Adams, SGT Juan Baldeosingh, SPC Robert Bittiker. These men were all in their 30s. I posted a pic of me in uniform taken when I served as a United Nations peacekeeper:

Mark's picture and comment show us a real person behind the numbers mentioned in Mark Harris' post below.

May Edward, Roger, Juan, and Robert rest in peace and rise in glory. May God give comfort, consolation, and the peace that passes understanding to all those who loved them.

Mark, may the ever-powerful love of God heal you in spirit, mind, and body.

Lest We Forget The Cost Of War

Read Mark Harris at Preludium:

As of this 4th of July 4,321 American service personnel and 318 other allied personnel have died in Iraq - 4,639 in all. In Afghanistan 719 US personnel have been killed, and 488 other allied personnel, for a total of 1,207.

These two wars have now cost 5,040 American lives. The number of US wounded in Iraq stands at over 31,368, in Afghanistan 3,023. Total wounded over 34,391.

For those in the Armed Forces of our Country

Almighty God, we commend to your gracious care and keeping all the men and women of our armed forces at home and abroad. Defend them day by day with your heavenly grace; strengthen them in their trials and temptations; give them courage to face the perils which beset them; and grant them a sense of your abiding presence wherever they may be; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

(Book of Common Prayer, p. 823)


For Peace

Eternal God, in whose perfect kingdom no sword is drawn but the sword of righteousness, no strength known but the strength of love: So mightily spread abroad your Spirit, that all peoples may be gathered under the banner of the Prince of Peace, as children of one Father; to whom be dominion and glory, now and for ever. Amen.

(Book of Common Prayer, p. 815)

Ads From The 30s

Always a major turn off for me. Do not blow smoke in my face! I hated the smell on my clothes and in my hair. Of course, both my parents smoked, so I never really got away from it for a good many years. At least, we kept the windows open back in the olden days.



I remember the men swearing when the "church key" couldn't be found. Fortunately, one of the guys usually played it safe and carried the object on his key chain and came to the rescue of all the thirsty folks.



Just do it. I'm old enough to remember folks saying that, however, I don't remember the "You could get hit by a bus tomorrow" part.



Who would know better than the docs that Camels are good for you?



I know I was happy when I ate lard. My grandmother's Creole cooking was delicious and full of lard.

Thanks to Doug. Happy Fourth, my faithful stringer!

"Dunlap Print" Discovered In British Archives

From the AP via The Huffington Post:

British researchers have announced the discovery of a rare original copy of America's Declaration of Independence - just in time for the Fourth of July.

Katrina McClintock, a spokeswoman at the National Archives, said Thursday that a researcher accidentally discovered the "Dunlap print," named after a printer, several months ago. The find was announced only after it could be properly catalogued.

Edward Hampshire, the National Archives' specialist in colonial materials, said the find was "incredibly exciting."

"It is likely that only around 200 of these were ever printed, so uncovering a new one nearly 250 years later is extremely rare, especially one in such good condition," he said.
....

The last Dunlap print to be found was sold at an auction for $8.14 million in 2000.

A spokesman for the National Archives helpfully reminds us that the document is important because it "marks the birth of the United States", which would be an item of information, rather than a reminder for perhaps more than a few of the citizens of the US. More's the pity.

Thought For The Day - Richard Rohr

It’s quite clear that in the final analysis it’s the grace of God that liberates us. It’s the experience of divine and unconditional love that really sets us free. No political system can offer us this inner liberty.

Daily Meditations by Richard Rohr. (Adapted from Simplicity, p. 121)

Happy Fourth Of July!

John Trumbull - Oil-on-canvas - commissioned 1817; purchased 1819; placed 1826 in the Rotunda of the United States Capitol, Washington, D.C.


When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds 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, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.

Full text of the Declaration of Independence.

Demographics of the signers of the Declaration.



A celebration before even my time. Have a wonderful holiday!

Trumball's painting from Wiki.

Note: As many of you probably noted and were too kind to say, in my original post I made un grand faux pas by posting a quote, a link to the text, and the names of the signers of the US Constitution. Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa! Publish in haste; repent in leisure.

Sarah Palin Resigns

From The Huffington Post:

After Sarah Palin's Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Week she has announced she will be stepping down in a few weeks. In a press conference call this morning, Alaska's Governor Sarah Palin has announced she will not run for re-election and is stepping down as governor.

She had a brief statement. She took no questions.

Her commissioners and Lt. Governor were with her at her home. Palin did not relinquish the reigns of the state to the Lt. Governor while running for vice president.

Lt. Governor Sean Parnell will step in as governor at the end of the month. He was defeated by Congressman Don Young in the Republican primary last year.

Rumors of an "iceberg scandal" have been circulating.

What on earth is an iceberg scandal?

Thanks to Göran for the tip.

Wow! More Obama Secrecy On Cheney

From TPM Muckraker:

Perhaps we shouldn't be surprised at this point. But the latest example of the Obama administration mimicking the Bushies in opting for secrecy over openness feels like one of the most infuriating yet.

The Justice Department is declining to release Dick Cheney's interview with federal investigators looking into the Valerie Plame leak, arguing -- as it did under President Bush -- that doing so would discourage future high-level officials from cooperating with criminal investigations.

Extremely weak defense. And what about Obama's promise to be open and transparent?

Outing Valerie Plame as a covert CIA officer was a despicable act, all for the sake of discrediting her husband, Joe Wilson, who stated that, despite the Bush maladministration's claims to the contrary, Saddam did not purchase yellowcake from Niger in the 1990s, a statement that was later proved to be true. We need to know the full story of Cheney's machinations in this ugly affair.

"Lebanese Lesbians Take New York"

From Air America:

In the wake of a major gay rights victory in India, members of a Lebanese gay rights group called Meem have arrived in New York to speak out for similar progress in their homeland. They are also promoting their book, Bareed Mista3jil, translated as "Mail in a Hurry." It contains 41 true stories of LGBT life in Lebanon, many of them surprisingly hopeful and humorous. It's also a first-of-its-kind book in the Arab world, and a bestseller at the Virgin Megastore in Beirut.

Today Air America's Jack Rice spoke with Nadine Moawad, a member of Meem and the editor of Bareed Mista3jil.




Dear me! It seems teh gay is contagious after all - or, at least, teh gays wanting to be who they are and out of the closet. It's spreading to the most unlikely places. Think of the children!

Rice's interview with Nadine Moawad is worth a listen. It's nearly 17 minutes long, so save it for when you have time.

Thanks to Georgianne for the link.