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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
 Posted - 07/03/2009 : 13:55:06
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This holiday has evolved to mean many things, I think: the shooting off of pyrotechnics, the guzzling of beer, the pig-out gluttony of scorched, fatty meat products poorly prepared on a grill reeking with the petroleum stench of starter fluid, and a NASCAR race at Daytona, which, as it is a restrictor-plate race, will only be interesting for the last fifty laps or so. And, oh yes, teabagging parties. 
The inevitable results of this will be some blackened, maimed hands, upset stomaches and another step toward morbid obesity, dreadful hangovers, traffic accidents -- many fatal and all expensive, along with lots of DUI citations, a plethora of ennui some of it resulting in drunken spouse/neighbor/relative shootings, and some royally pissed-off conservatives due to the ridicule they justifiably receive.
Only a few will remember the Declaration of Independence and exactly what this day means. I count myself and The Rude Pundit among those few, and, due to his greater eloquence, I'll allow him speak for me.
George Washington Would Kick Teabaggers' Asses:
The Rude Pundit is down in dwindling Red State America for the Fourth o' July this year. For shits and giggles, he'll be heading to a local Tea Party tomorrow, where people who honestly have no fucking idea about the history of the nation will gather and sacrifice goats to Fox "news," hoping that the blood will please the gods and their extraordinarily low taxes will be even lower.
Since those like the aforementioned mad Glenn Beck and his fellow nutzoids pick and choose what the nation's founders actually said and believed, with Beck's repeated reamings of Thomas Paine falling on the "what the fuck?" side of things, here's something from George Washington himself that'll fuck up a teabagger's day. It's from an April 5, 1783 letter Washington wrote to the Marquis de Lafayette - you know, that French bastard without whom the American Revolution would have probably failed:
"We now stand an Independent People, and have yet to learn political Tactics. We are placed among the Nations of the Earth, and have a character to establish; but how we shall acquit ourselves time must discover; the probability, at least I fear it is, that local, or state Politics will interfere too much with that more liberal and extensive plan of government which wisdom and foresight, freed from the mist of prejudice, would dictate; and that we shall be guilty of many blunders in treading this boundless theatre before we shall have arrived at any perfection in this Art."
We ignore history at our peril, and this is an annual, historic day. I wish all here an excellent holiday and I hope we will all spare at least a thought to the Declaration of Independence and the blood that was shed and the heroism that was performed in it's name.
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist! 
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 07/03/2009 : 14:46:31 [Permalink]
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I like this video on Independence Day, using interesting production values, fake actors' voices, and a novel take on history.
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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Independence Day.
