Happy Birthday, America!

What better forum for us to consider the freedom that America represents to the world than right here on Social Issues.

Love it or hate it, America provides the opportunities that attract millions each year to to do what they can, illegal or otherwise, to get here to partake of our freedom, our tolerance, our bounty.

Many die in their effort to come here to "breathe free," but wouldn't it be wonderful if life on any patch of ground on planet Earth afforded humans the same liberty that we take for granted here in the good old US of A.

I invite our members to join me in celebrating the freedom America represents to the world.

Yes, I know that we will have our share of those who can only find fault with America, but those who post such here and are, in fact, US citizens, will be exercising a freedom not everyone everywhere enjoys and will prove by their actions the glory that is America.

www.usacitylink

www.usa.gov

free.ed.gov

usinfo.state.gov

www.archives.gov


[edit on 2007/7/4 by GradyPhilpott]

Given that our president has seen fit to meddle with our legal system on the same week in which we celebrate and remember the unfathomable sacrifices that launched a brave republic conceived by brilliant men who stepped up to risk family, lives, and fortune... I have only one thought after reading your post...

www.abovetopsecret.com...

My head hangs in tearful mourning for what was to be.

Just one question, SO.

Why was Bush's excercise of his constitutional powers in this case more odious than the thousands of presidential pardons and commutations that preceded it?

The concerns expressed in your op/ed, I understand.

[edit on 2007/7/3 by GradyPhilpott]

Originally posted by GradyPhilpott
Why was Bush's excercise of his constitutional powers in this case more odious than the thousands of presidential pardons and commutations that preceded it?

I never implied that it was.

However, this administration appears to revel in overtly thumbing its nose in the general direction of law and liberty.

Happy Birthday America!!!!!!

What a wonderful day for celebrating! As we Bar-B-Q, eat, sing, laugh, visit with friends and watch the fireworks, let us not forget our sisters and brothers serving in the Armed Forces around the world keeping us safe so we can freely celebrate. Each man and woman is a fiber. Together they are spun to produce a thread and the threads are woven into a human tapestry that covers our nation and protects us all from evil - an evil that wishes to destroy us and our freedom. This tapestry is a force so strong that evil cannot penetrate. These volunteers are to be hailed as heroes, as our forefathers were. Their mission is equally as important and it is imperative that we show our support for them as well as this magnificent country and its leaders, regardless of our political views. We must never forget that tapestries are fragile, and if not cared for, will fray and weaken.

Let us not argue politics. Let us not degrade the Commander in Chief. Instead of defaming a nation divided, let us proclaim our love for our country and show the world that we are a proud, great country united in the purpose of keeping the USA the strongest country in the world.

My grandson was born on the Fourth of July, and he loves the American Flag so much, I just can’t tell you. It is a big deal for him all year long. He is five years old today and the theme of his party is Spiderman along with the American Flag. Spiderman is an American you know. He helps our soldiers fight the bad guys. It is up to all of us to teach these little people to be patriots and to cherish this country they were blessed to be born in.

Let us fly the American Flag high and proud today and everyday as we did after 9-11.

God Bless America!!!!!!!!

All I can say is may God Bless America in truth, justice and freedom forever!!!!

God Bless AMERICA!!!!




Semper

I'm not so sure this birthday is "happy"


July 3: Keith Olbermann questions Bush's actions in commuting the sentence of Scooter Libby.

That is the true beauty of what "our" birthday means, freedom...

Freedom for you to have that opinion and K. O. as well...

It is my opinion that what President Bush did is the finest example of true justice and proof that the system can work on occasion..

I not only support his actions, I applaud them...

That is my opinion and because we live in this GREAT country, my opinion is as valid as Keith Olbermann's...

What a Fantastic Country!!!!!

Happy Birthday USA!!!

Semper

Originally posted by SkepticOverlord
I'm not so sure this birthday is "happy"

Damn right, as the Freedoms that America speaks of is ALWAYS born from the mental, spiritual and physical slavery they invest in to be so free.

The freedoms that are implied here are false freedoms and rights and only belong in the mind of the hopeful.

But have a great day anyway

Yes Skeptic it a "happy birthday". You can question the President of the US with out being shot in the back of the head for doing so.

Today my family will cook out and shoot clay pigeons with our shotguns and targets with our Ar-15's. Yup, only in the United States of America.

Roper

ROPER!!!!

I'm going shooting too...!!!!

Come on out to the house and we can shoot your AR and my Steyr...

After the cook out of course...

Semper

A great day indeed, 231 years this great nation has been around, here's to 231 more...

Enjoy the fourth everyone, but above all please be safe...

Oh beautiful, for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America! God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood, from sea to shining sea.

Oh beautiful, for pilgrims' feet
Whose stern, impassioned stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America! God mend thine ev'ry flaw;
Confirm thy soul in self control, thy liberty in law!

Oh beautiful, for heroes proved
In liberating strife,
Who more than self their country loved
And mercy more than life!
America! America! May God thy gold refine,
'Til all success be nobleness, and ev'ry gain divine!

Oh beautiful, for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years,
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America! God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood, from sea to shining sea!

America The Beautiful

Originally posted by GradyPhilpott
Just one question, SO.

Why was Bush's excercise of his constitutional powers in this case more odious than the thousands of presidential pardons and commutations that preceded it?

The concerns expressed in your op/ed, I understand.

[edit on 2007/7/3 by GradyPhilpott]

I agree here; William J wasent exactly so innocent with his pardons of his brother, Marc Rich, Assata Shakur (admitted terrorist), and his attempted pardons of terrorists and separatists Lenny Pelliter and Mumia Abu Jamal.

Happy Birthday America!

I just hope my American Friends know their History and where they are coming from - so that will know where they are going to.

Google Video Link

PEACE



[edit on 4/7/07 by Souljah]

Originally posted by GradyPhilpott
Just one question, SO.

Why was Bush's excercise of his constitutional powers in this case more odious than the thousands of presidential pardons and commutations that preceded it?

The concerns expressed in your op/ed, I understand.

[edit on 2007/7/3 by GradyPhilpott]

Grady, your rationale reminds me of the old quip...by George Carlin, I believe..."If two wrongs don't make a right, do three?" In your world, how many wrongs must do combat before the cycle is halted?

America can still be the world's best hope. Happy Birthday, y'all, from the folks next door.l

Here is the entire 3 hour documentary.

ENJOY!

Google Video Link

This is not a "Happy Birthday" for my country. And I will not be celebrating. How could I possibly celebrate when I'm distressed and saddened by the wounds that the foundation, the very heart and soul of my country, has sustained?

I am sitting at America’s deathbed instead. It is in critical and unstable condition. I watch the heartbeat on the monitor and hope that another one appears, and another and another. My country is bleeding internally. Its ideals have been usurped, stabbed, pillaged and stomped. Its foundation has been slashed and tattered by the very people who have been entrusted to honor and uphold it. I watch and wait to see if my country will survive the horrifying injustices carried out against it.

No, I will not be celebrating today, for I am in mourning for the once-healthy, robust, extraordinary country I love, that is now weak and fragile with the cancer of corruption which has permeated nearly every limb. I hope against hope that it will see another sunrise, another snowfall another birthday, when there is something to celebrate, knowing that America bounced back once again from death’s door.

But for now, I do not celebrate. I watch and wait… and occasionally pray.

Happy birthday to the United States of America. May she have many, many more...

Before the revelries commence let us remember a toast uttered by Stephen Decateur almost 200 years ago, and no less important now than it was then.

"Our country! In her intercourse with foreign nations may she always be in the right, but right or wrong, our country."

Many have decried this as hopelessly jingoistic, and perhaps on the surface it seems that way. His intent was, I believe, to state that we must regardless of our feelings concerning the direction our nation may have taken of late, we must never falter in our efforts to right our wrongs, regardless of how difficult it may seem to do so. Afterall, our parents didn't give up on us when we took a mistep or wandered off the beaten path too far, and we are, in a very real sense, the parents of our country, or rather what our country will be. If in our intercourse with other nations we are wrong, there is no one to blame but ourselves if the wrong continues.

It's up to us as Americans to make sure that the legacy of our nation is a positive one. If not you, if not me, then who? We're the parents...


I'm not sure I made my point as clearly as I wanted, but there it is...

I love America! Which is why I vote. Not voting in a democracy is like living in a marriage without sex.

Ok, so here's the day. Fly the flag, ride the atv, drink mai tais, barbecue bratwurst, watch the families come to town for a great community fireworks display. I already have the red, white, and blue decorations in place, the sat radio tuned to patriotic musical offerings.

Let us not become a nation where the blindfold of justice is taken off her eyes and put on ours, where the scales remain unbalanced, where the sword is blunted by greed.
My country is in internal crisis at the moment, an opportunity for change, to right a wrong. It is easy to send an army offshore to fight, but the struggle for democracy's ideals and values is fought onshore by citizens. Shout truth to lies. Employ righteous justice against self-righteous injustice.

Continue in your courage, Benevolent Heretic. Courage and bravery in the struggle for ideals is not always rewarded with a piece of metal, but the rewards of your struggle will always be stronger than any metal.




[edit on 4-7-2007 by desert]