Happy 4th of July!

Enjoy the celebrations —  but remember what it is we are celebrating . . .

Fireworks_yeah

Fireworksfeuerwerkl9

Fireworks2_lg

Fireworks_finale

See also:
Geek Fireworks Guide
Wired Blogs, June 30, 2006 | 8:44:52 PM
http://blog.wired.com/monkeybites/2006/06/geek_fireworks_.html?entry_id=1512942

 

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  1. brion commented on Jul 5

    …that America is a state of mind and not a place on the map.
    That it can either Live in the hearts of ever vigilant citizens or wither at the hands of tyrants mouthing national platitudes and bible verses….

  2. donna commented on Jul 5

    We celebrated my puppy Darwin’s first birthday!

    Oh yeah, and there was some noise and stuff about 9:00 tonight.

  3. douglass truth commented on Jul 5

    Feels to me like there’s a black stripe over the flag now… with gitmo, commuted sentences for W’s friends, no habeus, secret prisons, and political prosecutions (Alabama’s governor). We gotta get back to being the good ol USA. Hat tip to Ben Franklin: “It’s a republic, if you can keep it.” So let’s celebrate, but not forget that we’re on a bad road. We can, and should be, better.

  4. Winston Munn commented on Jul 5

    Sales of sparklers were down 1.4% YOY, while potato salad and all-beef frank sales slid 0.8%.

    However, asshats occupying claimed non-executive branch White House offices were up 100%, Justice Department yes-men rose 447%, while spineless bastards in congress were up 502%.

  5. Matt McAleer commented on Jul 5

    God forbid a post attempts to remind folks about the reality of the 4th. Out come the political comments from clowns that have no respect for the country.

    Douglass… you ever serve under that flag, or just complain and bitch about it?

  6. Paul commented on Jul 5

    What we are fighting for is quite simply the notion that all men are created equal. Not “freedom” or even “democracy,” but the simple idea that all men are created equal. We may today hold it to be self-evident, but in many places it isn’t. And it flies in the face of a radical movement that holds that every human being on the face of the earth who doesn’t kowtow to its own internal logic is not only utterly expendable, but indeed deserves the most merciless death possible.

    The words in the Declaration 231 years ago were intended as a rebuke to kings, but today they’re just as effective a rebuke to the nihilistic anarchists we’re fighting.

  7. The Financial Philosopher commented on Jul 5

    I appreciate the post but, if we truly wish to observe the meaning of Independence Day, why not place images of the American Flag and/or the Declaration of Independence in the post instead of fireworks?

  8. Mike commented on Jul 5

    Paul – I agree with the spirit of your comments, but take exception with the use of the terms ‘nihilism’ and ‘anarchism’ – I think the opposite is what you mean.

    Today’s enemy does not believe that the world lacks objective meaning/truth/purpose, etc… the definition of nihilism (1). Rather they believe that all meaning comes only from their version of deity.

    Also, the enemy’s claimed desire for a strong, hierarchically-structured Islamic state is the opposite of anarchism by definition. In fact, many would argue that capitalism in its purest form is indistinguishable from anarchism (2). (Trying to bring the conversation back to economics… :) Anarchism does not imply a total lack of structure in society – just that structure emerges naturally from individual actions instead of being imposed by the State.

    ‘Nihilism’ and ‘anarchism’ are two very loaded and very misunderstood concepts. I think we will look back in 50 years and say that the enemy was ‘fundamentalism’… and that the reason we stumbled in the early years of the war was that our leaders at the time espoused their own (weaker) version of fundamentalism.

    (1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nihilism

    (2) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anarcho-capitalism

  9. Greg0658 commented on Jul 5

    brion – ‘America is state of mind not a place’

    what?!?

    Are you a WTO’an? I wrote facetiously months ago, somewhere, I’ll say it again, maybe the next version of Old Glory should replace the 50 stars & blue field with the WTO’s globe RGB (red green blue) logo.

    Until then we residents in these borders and tax system should bill the WTO for world security services.

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