As we sit here on July 4th Eve, we'll point out something from the journals of the Lewis and Clark expedition:
On the 4th of July in 1804, the guys rowing up the river in Kansas ended Independence Day by firing off their keelboat’s main gun (significant, since they only had so much powder, etc.) and throwing back an extra gill of whiskey (and there were very few package stores in Kansas in those days). This has always struck me, as here are guys out in the middle of nowhere, and they still make a point to fire off their bottle rocket and throw back a cold one to celebrate the U.S. of A.
So, as that Roman candle is firing off and you’re downing an icy one from the cooler, we here on L. St. ask you to join us in a semi-formal salute to the boys who crossed the new America -- to the guys who scaled the rocks on Omaha Beach -- to the guys and girls who scrape the sand over in Iraq, Afghanistan or any points west and east. Sure there's always more that we can do. But start at the minimum: Put 'em all in our thoughts and prayers.
Wishing
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6 comments:
Indeed, mixing gunpowder and booze is quintessentially American.
Whether it be beer and firecrackers at home, or a swig from a canteen and firing a few rounds in the air, it all harkens back to whisky sotted Americans dumping tea in a harbor and a rifle shot so loud it is still being heard round the world.
Freedom isn't for wimps.
Down the British. Up the rebels.
Thanks for a great post, SS.
It is always fun to debate politics on your board. It is also important to remind ourselves how fortunate we are to be Americans.
As Warren Buffett likes to say, if you were born in the U.S. congratulations -- you won the lottery. You are better off than 99% of the world's population.
Here's to those who made it possible!
Amen StreetSweeper. Far more than a geographical location, America is an ideal...as RR used to put it "that shining city on the hill". Let's hope we have the right stuff to keep reinventing how we best pursue that ideal, despite petty politicians and foreign threats.
"A Republic ... if you can keep it."
Problem is, Bush and the new GOP (compassionate conservatives) aren't trying to keep it; they're trying to give it away.
"I served in Vietnam...and you didn't"
The bigger problem is that Hagel would rather we lay down and surrender our nation to a bunch of terrorists than saddle up and wipe them off the face of the planet.
"saddle up and wipe them off the face of the planet."
There's a winning foreign policy if I've ever seen one.
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