Happy 4th of July

[ZeeGerman]

I like to wish our US buddies here a happy Independence Day.
Celebrate your great nation because you have many reasons to do so. All the criticism regarding your government's policies are but a tiny issue in comparison to all the things I've learned to love about the States while I was living there.

So, enjoy your day off and have a Bud for the rest of us who have to labor on this ordinary Monday.

Zee

P.S.: Hey, it's the day to fly a flag, isn't it?

:usa:

[Zep]

Let me add my congratulations too. Everyone have a great day, and please be safe.

I'll have a few of these in your honour tonight!

Cheers!
Zep

http://images.packworld.com/issues/10.02/images/Departments/MICHELOB.jpg

[clarsct]

*chuckle*

Well. I guess I'll just have to celebrate with a Guiness....
and maybe some Jeagermeister. Budwieser isn't beer.

Michelob is a touch better. The Amber Bock isn't bad, at all.


But many thanks for the thoughts! I had to work, but still managed to see a few early fireworks from the roof of my building. (A few of us made a run up there once we saw a display. Different seeing them from a few hundred feet up. I recommend it!)

Where would we be without our European heritage, after all. (I understand some Aussies have migrated up here, but I haven't figured out why. You guys still exiling criminals?)

Thank You.

[Darat]

I hold a glass up to all those brave British citizens that fought for what they believed in... taxation :)

[Zep]

...and playing cowboys and Indians, and no tea!

:D

http://earlyamerica.com/review/2005_winter_spring/images/teaparty4.jpg

[Yahweh]

http://forums.randi.org/images/smilies/flag.gif

[Zep]

Oh, go on! Have a BIG flag!

http://members.fortunecity.com/dbard/flag3.gif

[Rob Lister]

Our humble beginnings

In Congress, July 4, 1776

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands 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 of 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. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new guards for their future security -- Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government.

http://www.usconstitution.net/declar.html

Right or wrong, just or hypocritical, adhered to or ignored, here we are 229 years later as the single most influential nation on the face of the earth. And even the moon, briefly.

[Cleopatra]

Happy Independence Day to all our American friends!!!

You must be very proud of your country because your ancestors managed to change the Western World in essence and for good and ispired many other remote and tiny nations to fight for their Liberty and Freedom.

Times have changed though. Words like Freedom don't mean much. Today we crave for Peace and Human Rights.

I hope that American citizens won't rest on the laurels of their glorious past and they will fight for real Peace and Human Rights all around the world! :)

[Bruce]

What? That's it? No sniping? No inuendos? No Bush-bashing? No Gitmo? Not even a watered-down beer jab?

I'm touched. You guys love us. You really, really love us! :cry:

But why do you have both hands behind your back? http://www.skepticalcommunity.com/phpbb2/images/smiles/Scratch4.gif

[Mycroft]

Thanks for the good wishes everyone! I plan to celebrate by drinking lots of alcohol and setting off fireworks around children.

Okay, kidding. Sort of.

:usa:

[Kopji]

Thanks. We shall drink imported beer today!
A local bar has brews from most countries, and if you drink 80 or so you are known as a world traveler and get your name painted on the wall.

Boonie-ville Arizona celebrates with an old fashioned street parade I attended once but don't remember it. The governor is at this one but I'm still not going. This has been a fairly wet year so the fireworks are on. These are put on by... the Fire Department.
Very poetic. We're members of a local athletic club that happens to be located right next to the park they set off the fireworks, so we can get nearby with "free" parking (yeah I know). Relaxing in a pool while watching things blow up overhead somehow seems very American.

4th of July in is usually spent as part of a two or three day holiday. This one is day 4 of a 5 day holiday so I'm being good and taking my holiday time. (Stupid) Americans like me work so hard they make tv commercials telling us to TAKE OUR VACATION. Of course, the spots are bought by companies like Disney and Carnival Cruises...

Another great holiday I celebrate is Cinco de Mayo - Mexican independence from an evil French emperor named Max, and a really great excuse for a party. Stupid name for a holiday though - translates to "The 5th of May". :D

[Chaos]

Originally posted by Bruce
*snip* Not even a watered-down beer jab?
*snip*

Okay, as a special favor just for you:

American beer is like having sex in a canoe: *********** close to water.

[varwoche]

Originally posted by Chaos
American beer is like having sex in a canoe: *********** close to water. At least there's an upside to having sex in a canoe.

Of course there are countless excellent micro-brews to be found in blue states, where we possess the common sense not to drink swill, unlike our mentally challenged, shrub-worshipping, red state bretheren.

Happy 4th Bruce! ;)

[RandFan]

Originally posted by ZeeGerman
I like to wish our US buddies here a happy Independence Day.
Celebrate your great nation because you have many reasons to do so. All the criticism regarding your government's policies are but a tiny issue in comparison to all the things I've learned to love about the States while I was living there.

So, enjoy your day off and have a Bud for the rest of us who have to labor on this ordinary Monday.

Zee

P.S.: Hey, it's the day to fly a flag, isn't it?

:usa: Yeah right, pull your pants down, moon me, and then wish me a happy fourth {sheesh} :D

Hey German...er...isn't it Deutch?

In any event thank you very much. :) Thanks to all, I raise a glass of limp, pale, American so called beer to all of you.

We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.--Abraham Lincoln Lincoln was referring to Americans but I hope we can share the sentiment with all friends, comrades, allies and brothers in arms, peace or even beer if that's what it takes.

[Ed]

Thank you all.

[Bruce]

Originally posted by varwoche
At least there's an upside to having sex in a canoe.

Of course there are countless excellent micro-brews to be found in blue states, where we possess the common sense not to drink swill, unlike our mentally challenged, shrub-worshipping, red state bretheren.

Happy 4th Bruce! ;)

Excuse me? We INVENTED micro-breweries.

We also invented the Atkins Diet. In these parts, it's known as "breakfast".

Happy 4th, varwoche! :p :)

[aerosolben]

Originally posted by varwoche
Of course there are countless excellent micro-brews to be found in blue states
I spent my holiday weekend enjoying the goodness of the Deschutes and Cascade Lakes (try the Scotch amber!) breweries, and riding around in classic cars (including the PGA president's 1956 Mercedes 300SL...sweet).

Hooray for microbrews, Oregon, and the 4th of July!

[H3LL]

Originally posted by ZeeGerman
P.S.: Hey, it's the day to fly a flag, isn't it?

:usa:

Belated happy anniverary.

[pedantic mode]
Aren't there a few stars and stripes missing from that flag?
[/pedantic mode]

[rikzilla]

Thanks to all!
It's nice to know that the truth is that our friends outnumber our enemies.....and we sure have a lot of enemies these days!

-z


:alc: :13: