Happy 4th

Comments

[green dem]

"America, fuck yeah!
Comin' again to save the motherfucking day, yeah!
America, fuck yeah!

Freedom is the only way, yeah!
Terrorists, your game is through,
'cause now you have to answer to
America, fuck yeah!
So lick my butt and suck on my balls!
America, fuck yeah!
What you gonna do when we come for you now!"

Team America, World Police

[green dem]

Oops. Left out the best part:

McDonalds, FUCK YEAH!
Wal-Mart, FUCK YEAH!
The Gap, FUCK YEAH!
Baseball, FUCK YEAH!
NFL, FUCK, YEAH!
Rock and roll, FUCK YEAH!
The Internet, FUCK YEAH!
Slavery, FUCK YEAH!

FUCK YEAH!

Starbucks, FUCK YEAH!
Disney world, FUCK YEAH!
Porno, FUCK YEAH!
Valium, FUCK YEAH!
Reeboks, FUCK YEAH!
Fake Tits, FUCK YEAH!
Sushi, FUCK YEAH!
Taco Bell, FUCK YEAH!
Rodeos, FUCK YEAH!
Bed bath and beyond (Fuck yeah, Fuck yeah)

Liberty, FUCK YEAH!
White Slips, FUCK YEAH!
The Alamo, FUCK YEAH!
Band-aids, FUCK YEAH!
Las Vegas, FUCK YEAH!
Christmas, FUCK YEAH!
Immigrants, FUCK YEAH!
Popeye, FUCK YEAH!
Demarcates, FUCK YEAH!
Republicans (republicans)
(fuck yeah, fuck yeah)

[richard]

......books!

[Virgil Johnson]

Great cartoon Marc. Go Green Dem - I have very little to say tonight.

Here's something everybody owes themselves as part of their "post-4th" of July reflections on the country we love.

http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/articles/050704fa_fact3

George Packer's article from The New Yorker (last week's) that looks at the war through the eyes of a father who lost his son. Essential reading no matter where you've come down in the "pro-anti" shouting match.

[eddiematthews]

I Pledge allegiance to one Marc COoper's one commitment to large military budgets to support increasing troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, and one nation under large federal expenditures in social welfare spending to help the poor in a time of economic tightening UNDER GOD!!!

[eddiematthews]

I Pledge allegiance to one Marc COoper's one commitment to large military budgets to support increasing troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, and one nation under large federal expenditures in social welfare spending to help the poor in a time of economic tightening UNDER GOD!!!

[Woody]

Good grief! Now, am I going to have to say that conservatives are more patriotic than liberals--IN GENERAL (and, specifically to some)? On this entire site, I think that I'm the only one that said anything approaching a kind word about our country for July 4th. Friday, I wrote "Also, everyone have a happy and safe Independence Day weekend. Don't forget to take a moment to honor and reflect on the courage and sacrificies of our founders and the freedoms that they made possible for us. Make this more than just another day off." (Did you?)

The difference between "us" and "them" is that, while we both associate *F* words with our country--my word is FREEDOM while their word is F**K. At least in this country one has the FREEDOM to say things like that.

I'm not the one who is sick.

[Jay Byrd]

"Make this more than just another day off. (Did you?)"

Like I said, as a patriotic American, I made a contribution to the "Impeach Bush" effort.

"I'm not the one who is sick."

Yes, you are. Your trucking in *words* like "freedom", "patriotism", and "morality" while your actual beliefs and actions run counter to them is very sick indeed.

[Jay Byrd]

To honor our founding fathers, I offer these quotations:

"I almost shudder at the thought of alluding to the most fatal example of the abuses of grief which the history of mankind has preserved--the Cross. Consider what calamities that engine of grief has produced!"--John Adams

"But how has it happened that millions of fables, tales, legaends, hae been blended with both Jewish and Chiistian revelation that have made them the most bloody religion that ever existed.--John Adams

"Religion I found to be without any tendency to inspire, promote, or confirm morality, serves principally to divide us and make us unfriendly to one another."--Benjamin Franklin

"Shake off all the fears of servile prejudices, under which weak minds are serviley crouched. Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call on her tribunal for every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a God, because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason than that of blind faith." -- Thomas Jefferson

"The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods, or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg."--Thomas Jefferson

"Christianity...(has become) the most perverted system that ever shone on man. ...Rogueries, absurdities and untruths were perpetrated upon the teachings of Jesus by a large band of dupes and imposters led by Paul, the first great corrupter of the teaching of Jesus." --Thomas Jefferson

"I have recently been examining all the known superstitions of the world, and do not find in our particular superstition [Christianity] one redeeming feature. They are all alike, founded on fables and mythology."--Thomas Jefferson

"Millions of innocent men, women, and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined, imprisoned, yet we have not advanced one inch towards uniformity [of opinion]. What has been the effect of coercion? To make one half the world fools, and the other half hypocrites."--Thomas Jefferson

"The clergy converted the simple teachings of Jesus into an engine for enslaving mankind and adulterated by artificial constructions into a contrivance to filch wealth and power to themselves...these clergy, in fact, constitute the real Anti-Christ." -- Thomas Jefferson

"History I believe furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining a free civil government. This marks the lowest grade of ignorance, of which their political as well as religious leaders will always avail themselves for their own purpose."--Thomas Jefferson

"During almost fifteen centuries has the legal establishment of Christianity been on trial. What has been its fruits? More or less, in all places, pride and indolence in the clergy; ignorance and servility in the laity; in both, superstition, bigotry and persecution." -- James Madison

"Ecclesiastical establishments tend to great ignorance and all of which facilitates the execution of mischievous projects. Religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind and unfits it for every noble enterprise, every expanded project."--James Madison

"Of all the tyrannies that affect mankind, tyranny in religion is the worst."--Thomas Paine

"All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian, or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit."--Thomas Paine

"As priestcraft was always the enemy of knowledge, because priestcraft supports itself by keeping people in delusion and ignorance, it was consistent with its policy to make the acquisition of knowledge a real sin."--Thomas Paine

"The age of ignorance commenced with the Christian system."--Thomas Paine

"One of the embarrassing problems for the early nineteenth-century champions of the Christian faith was that not one of the first six Presidents of the United States was an orthodox Christian."--The Encyclopedia Brittanica

[green dem]

"The difference between "us" and "them" is that, while we both associate *F* words with our country--my word is FREEDOM while their word is F**K. At least in this country one has the FREEDOM to say things like that."

Proof positive that even right-wing baby boomers didn't *get* Team America, World Police. !Vive Parker and Stone!

[reg]

Well, Woody...if - as I suggested - reflecting on the sacrifice of a father and son in this war that still looks far from "mission accomplished" isn't an act of patriotism, of love and concern for our country, in the eyes of a conservative such as yourself, then I'm afraid conservatives are long on lip service, bullshit and bravado and short on the kind of patriotism that the country really needs - the thoughtful, honest, unflinching kind. Flagwaving is easy - and I had a Fourth with plenty of flags waving and enjoyed it immensely - but it's a superficial act.

I'll bet you skipped that article I linked because it's "the leftwing media". Well, when Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly have, added together, spent as much time with soldiers in Iraq and "gold star" parents at home as George Packer, the New Yorker journalist whose article I suggested you read, has...that's the day I'll send you a fifth of 1st class whiskey special delivery. Let me know...

Oh...and I'm glad some of the talk radio hacks of the far Right are FINALLY getting their asses over there. Franken's been to Iraq and Afghanistan four times - and not as a partisan poltiical stunt but to cheer up the troops. It's about goddam time these wingnut loudmouths actually got out of their soundproof booths and into the real world. What a bunch of self-promoting wankers... For scumbags like the local crazy woman from KSFO - Melanie Mouth or whatever her name is - to criticize real journalists who've had their asses on the line in Iraq for years now is enough to make me throw up. Well...almost enough.

[Mark A. York]

My family were the founders. And they weren't federalists either. Happy 4th.

[Dave K.]

Woody, I stood in the crowd on 23rd Street in NYC to watch complete strangers blow shit up for my amusement. And as the fireworks blossomed and faded into vines of smoke, I reflected on how lucky I am to live here. I'm serious. And I'm a liberal, dammit. Are you saying that I'm not respectful of my country because I don't constantly blurt it out?

I'm really starting to suspect people who feel the need to endlessly publicize their patriotism.

[rosedog]

Hey, Woody. You are such a smart, funny, decent man whom I’d no doubt enjoy having as a neighbor… But the random red state/blue state dart throwing serves nobody---particularly around the issue of patriotism. (Cool Deep Impact link, tho.)

Reg, the New Yorker piece was devastating. Thanks for flagging it. (I always seem to get my New Yorkers a week after every other subscriber in the continental United States has already gotten theirs and entered the weekly cartoon caption contest. Possibly my postwoman has an unacknowledged thang for Hendrik Hertzberg.)

[Virgil Johnson]

I hope you all had a happy "Farce Of July."

[reg]

Virgil - We had a terrific "community" Fourth at a friend's in Alameda, a lovely little island town one short bridge ride away from me in Oakland. Lots of friendship, food, live music...and flags. The 4th of July is only a "farce" if we let it get hijacked by scoundrels, forget our possibilities as a nation and the many ways in which our communities are blessed. Don't deny the spirit in which Frederick Douglas in a famous 4th of July oration in 1852 delivered his scathing indictment of slavery, but also framed his anger at terrible wrongs with these words: "The principles contained in [the Declaration of Independence] are saving principles. Stand by those principles, be true to them on all occasions, in all places, against all foes, and at whatever cost...Allow me to say, in conclusion, notwithstanding the dark picture I have this day presented, of the state of the nation, I do not despair of this country."

If Frederick Douglas could hang in there during those much darker days, surely we can keep the faith in our democracy rather than surrender it in bitterness.

[Virgil Johnson]

Reg, I understand your response - it is the response of the privileged. Perhaps you miss the point of the "savages" mentioned in that document you uphold as a paragon of virtue, that were genocided after the war and expansion - your response does not surprise me.

Maybe you should try to comprehend the core of that cabal (forget the willing idiots) who spoke for war. Not that freedom and separation were not needed nor desired, but the makeup of those who designed that document, and that other document- our Constitution. Come to an understanding that it was written by equally privileged, land and slave owning white men, who voiced in the first article that the black population was slightly above a mule - and owned property to boot!

Until you understand that the masses are moved so that an elite can prosper and rule, we probably won't have much to talk about. I might pose the premise that you do not understand where we are in history (with all due respect) and why this government continues on it's genocidal course, because you fail to grasp the true nature of our inception. In other words, the "scoundrels" are always able to cloak true design in high and noble rhetoric (both spoken and written). However, I agree that it was at least well written - let's see if we can empower the noble principles it espouses - today. Unfortunately history is not on our side.

[reg]

"it is the response of the privileged"

Fuck you...I may well be "privileged" compared to most, as was Frederick Douglas compared to the slaves he spoke for. But your reductive reaction is little more than a retread of truisms - issues which I've understood since I was about 14 and started actively protesting when I turned 17, well before it was a fashion trend. Ultimately, my "privilege" in those years was that I managed to avoid hard jail time - but just barely.

Douglas understood this stuff as painful reality better than either of us ever will, because he was truly in the fire. But his response was heroic and visionary, not bullshit fatalism. Also very canny and strategic - he understood the "democratic jujitsu" as a force on his side in eloquently exposing the founder's hypocrisies and failings as he praised the ideals and their rhetoric.

And if you truly believe the Declaration of Independence was just some kind of plot to keep the "masses" down, frankly I think you're the one who's got your head stuck somewhere. And incapable of understanding history's complexities.

As for history and whose "side" it's on, I'll stick with Martin Luther King on that one - "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice." He died believing that and my personal faith is that I owe it to him to believe it as well.

Cynicism is as tiresome and useless as mindless flagwaving, given the work we've still got to do. It's also something that only the "privileged" can truly afford, because there's less at stake for them and copping an attitude is easy.

[Woody]

There are plenty of opportunities for discussing wars and impeachment and alternatives for this country. I just didn't think that it was a red state-blue state or conservative-liberal issue or just too much to expect that we should take one day to celebrate the birth of our nation and honor those who gave us our liberties. Apparently to some, it is too much.

[reg]

We took the day Woody...and if the 4th of July isn't a day to consider why our country is at war and the alternatives before us as a nation, what could it possibly be good for. What the hell were the founders doing on the first 4th ? Attending a parade ????

[rosedog]

Reg….Extremely eloquent reply to Virgil.

“Cynicism is as tiresome and useless as mindless flagwaving, given the work we've still got to do. It's also something that only the "privileged" can truly afford, because there's less at stake for them….”

No kidding.

[Woody]

On my daughter's birthday, I don't tell her how she could improve her life by dumping her boyfriend and spending more time working or get on to her about how she votes. We celebrated her birth, remembered the sacrifices and blessings of raising her, joyfully reflected on what she means to our family, and showed her how much we love her.

At a relative's funeral, we celebrated his life by sharing how he helped and guided us and what he meant to us in a positive way. We discussed his accomplishments--not his failures. We showed how much we loved him.

On Independence Day, some of us put aside petty politics and issues and celebrated the birth of our nation. Likewise, we showed our love for our country.

Some people cannot bring themselves to do that. Patriotism to them is measured by the amount of disdain and criticism they can pour on for the alleged purpose of making this the nation that they envision. I see no love.

Some here did take time to reflect on our freedoms, but others only take time to spew their hate for our country and its systems.

I'm not trying to make devisive comments. I only want to express my position and disappointment that others cannot share in our love and excitement for the best nation on this earth--and, all it would take is to give part of just one day a year.

Links and rhetoric and attacks sent my way won't change the reality of how people really feel. Yet, I have to feel badly for them since they are losing out on so much and may look back one day with sadness that they couldn't appreciated the gift of freedom that others fought to give them.

There's no sense arguing, and I don't intend to do that. I've taken what I believe are your beliefs and you have heard mine. Please excuse me as I express my love for my country in my way, and you can continue to express your love, if that's it, in your own way.

[green dem]

"On my daughter's birthday, I don't tell her how she could improve her life by dumping her boyfriend and spending more time working or get on to her about how she votes."

Someone tell that to my parents.

[reg]

"I see no love."

And, frankly, I see no love in the hatemongering against half the country that is the Right's stock in trade these days. When American's use the word "liberal" as a synonym for "traitor", they are spitting on our best traditions and selling partisan patent medicine as patriotism. Don't spit on us and then say "No sense arguing." The argument exists and I'll be more than happy to finish it with your creepy crowd.