Happy 4th July, Americans!

[Petra]

A Nation's Strength
by Ralph Waldo Emerson

What makes a nation's pillars high
And it's foundations strong?
What makes it mighty to defy
The foes that round it throng?

It is not gold. Its kingdoms grand
Go down in battle shock;
Its shafts are laid on sinking sand,
Not on abiding rock.

Is it the sword? Ask the red dust
Of empires passed away;
The blood has turned their stones to rust,
Their glory to decay.

And is it pride? Ah, that bright crown
Has seemed to nations sweet;
But God has struck its luster down
In ashes at his feet.

Not gold but only men can make
A people great and strong;
Men who for truth and honor's sake
Stand fast and suffer long.

Brave men who work while others sleep,
Who dare while others fly...
They build a nation's pillars deep
And lift them to the sky.



I Hear America Singing
by Walt Whitman

I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear,
Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it should be blithe and strong,
The carpenter singing his as he measures his plank or beam,
The mason singing his as he makes ready for work, or leaves off work,
The boatman singing what belongs to him in his boat, the deckhand
singing on the steamboat deck,
The shoemaker singing as he sits on his bench, the hatter singing as he stands,
The wood-cutter's song, the ploughboy's on his way in the morning, or
at noon intermission or at sundown,
The delicious singing of the mother, or of the young wife at work, or of
the girl sewing or washing,
Each singing what belongs to him or her and to none else,
The day what belongs to the day--at night the party of young fellows,
robust, friendly,
Singing with open mouths their strong melodious songs.





:fireworks:

[ceptimus]

Happy Independence Day, USA-ers!

:unitedstates:

[Dingfod]

This day we called 'Firecracker Day' used to thrill me when I was a kid, popping firecrackers, shooting off bottle rockets, twirling sparklers, going to the park to watch the fireworks displays. Now I'm rather blase about it. Now I don't want or need the loud noises of the fireworks, or the crowds at a community fireworks display. The BBQ and the beer are okie-dokey, the rest, not so much. So, give me a beer and a rack of ribs and I'll watch the fireworks on TV.

[Petra]

* Petra hands Ding a beer and Victoria Beckham.


:)

[Pan Narrans]

http://www.pvponline.com/comics/pvp20080704.gif

[Stormlight]

Happy Independence days, Americans! :cheer:

[Dingfod]

* Petra hands Ding a beer and Victoria Beckham.


:):roflmao:

[Uthgar the Brazen]

The most important thing about today for me is the fact it feels like Saturday. Which means Sunday morning I may get up and start getting ready for work, and then have a moment of revelation where I'll be perfectly balanced between pissed off and thoroughly relieved.

Stay tuned!

[Pinecone]

:applepie::hotdog::torte: Happy Birthday America ! ! ! :torte::hotdog::applepie:

[Shelli]

huh, wha? :yawning:

I didn't get out of bed until 12 noon today. :pleased:

Happy 4th! :dud:

[GodPossessed]

huh, wha? :yawning:

I didn't get out of bed until 12 noon today. :pleased:

Happy 4th! :dud:

You newlyweds are ridiculous.:wink:

[Shelli]

:giggle:

Yeah, my hand(s) and I really are a bit much sometimes. :appl:

:rimshot:

:naughty:

:biggrin:

[Watser?]

Happy Independence Day American dudes and dudettes :cheers:

[Crumb]

Happy Fourth to my fellow Americans! :unclesam:

[godfry n. glad]

Happy July 4 to all my non-USer friends.

Happy Independence Day to all my USer friends. A truer independence day will be coming in a little over six months.

Here's to "No Bush, No Dick"!

http://bdchivers.home.comcast.net/~bdchivers/lj/lips_no_bush.jpg
(NSFW)

[Shelli]

:rofl:

[ITSOZAZ]

09-27 (America)

There in the shadow of the vulture
Dies your culture
Eagle strangled by the snake
Bear witness to the great escape
Kicks at the inevitability
The fading possibilities
Of soaring at fantastic heights
Tethered like a living kite

Claw to set your spirit free
Manifest your destiny.


there's my ode to america...happy fireworks and partying!! :)

[Plant Woman]

7/8 of me says, YEAH!
1/8 of me says, BOO!

[Joshua Adams]

Goddamn I hate the sound of fireworks. Hopefully they'll be made illegal once Obama puts us under Sharia law.

[Garnet]

It's really noisy outside our house right now.

But because of the trees, we can't see a single damned firework. We can hear 'em and smell 'em but we can't see 'em.

:sadcheer:

[Shelli]

I, too, wish the @#$% fireworks would stop. My dog, Raistlin, won't stop barking and howling. :blah:

[California Tanker]

Here's to "No Bush, No Dick"!


I'm looking at that piece of attire, and wondering "what's the point?"

Reasonable fireworks display here at Ft Knox. Unfortunately, almost no wind, so most of the Grand Finale (is there ever a display without one? Just solid fireworks?) ended up utterly obscured behind the smoke caused by the first couple of shells of the finale.

NTM

[viscousmemories]

Happy 4th, Americans.

I celebrated by going to work today. :slide:

[mindbender]

Fuck yeah mutha fucka!!!!!! Happy birthday, America, you nasty bitch!


Oh hey, is Sen. McCain taking a dump in that avatar? Looks constipated. Majorly.

[MonCapitan2002]

Happy July 4 to all my non-USer friends.

Happy Independence Day to all my USer friends. A truer independence day will be coming in a little over six months.

Here's to "No Bush, No Dick"!

http://bdchivers.home.comcast.net/~bdchivers/lj/lips_no_bush.jpg
(NSFW)
That underwear seems a tad too conservative. Wouldn't you agree?

[Shelli]

Well, I was mistaken about fireworks in the neighborhood tonight. Instead, it was gunshots .. right out in front of my house in the street. Exxxxxxcellent. :stwitch:

[Shelli]

Oh, wait.. silly me. :goose: There's fireworks now too! :eager: Two for the price of one! :excited:

:blank:

[California Tanker]

I'm astounded. Not surprised that the City of Santa Cruz are a bunch of kill-joys.

From another board.

NTM
___________________

Originally Posted By IDK:
For those of you not from around here, the Fourth of July in Santa Cruz runs a little differently... Santa Cruz decided it would celebrate it's "city anniversary" in October with fireworks instead of the 4th, some years ago and people who live here said, "OK, screw you then. As far as we are concerned the 4th is still about explosives and alcohol!" It started small but has turned into the biggest freelance explosives show I've ever seen. (Come to think of it about the only...) HUNDREDS of commercial grade shells being lit from all over the beach with lots of small stuff to boot. Fun, anarchist alternative to a regular 4th. CA gets a bad rap but there are pleny of libertarian crazy hippy types here who love their explosives and guns...

When I was the beach earlier in the day I wasn't sure people would be able to pull it off this year. The police were searching every cooler, every person, throughout the day both on entry and on the beach. Alas, like police everywhere they vastly underestimated human ingenuity when it comes to smuggling things they want to enjoy. And geo-caching has added a whole new wrinkle to the problem...

Hope you had a fun 4th!

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h115/fishfilm/July42008183.jpg

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h115/fishfilm/July42008255.jpg

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h115/fishfilm/July42008059.jpg

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h115/fishfilm/July42008097.jpg

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h115/fishfilm/July42008168.jpg

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h115/fishfilm/July42008193.jpg

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h115/fishfilm/July42008201.jpg

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h115/fishfilm/July42008247.jpg

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h115/fishfilm/July42008276.jpg

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h115/fishfilm/July42008302.jpg

Amazing how close people will stand to these...
http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h115/fishfilm/July42008315.jpg

When there are premature detonations going off all over the place!
http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h115/fishfilm/CU1.jpg

We had a great time here! (and yes, it was daylight bright sometimes just from the sheer number going off everywhere. All I did to these pics was shrink and sharpen.)

[viscousmemories]

CA gets a bad rap but there are pleny of libertarian crazy hippy types here who love their explosives and guns...
"But"?

[Uthgar the Brazen]

CA gets a bad rap but there are pleny of libertarian crazy hippy types here who love their explosives and guns...
"But"?

:giggle:

Looks like it was loads of fun, CT, though I admit I would have been watching from underneath blankets. :D

* Uthgar the Brazen does not get along with sudden, loud noises

[Plant Woman]

I wonder who cleaned up the mess afterwards, because in my experience those who set off loud noises leave their garbage behind.

[Dingfod]

I wonder who cleaned up the mess afterwards,...Mexicans.

[Garnet]

Wow!!! Just...wow!!!!

[SharonDee]

I wonder who cleaned up the mess afterwards, because in my experience those who set off loud noises leave their garbage behind.Yeah. :grumpy:

I saw no good fireworks displays but my driveway was full of spent 'works when I got home this afternoon. Damned kids!:shakecane:

[Caligulette]

Having lived through the great Oakland Hills fire of 1991, I am in favour of not setting off fireworks during the dry season.

[Dingfod]

There was little risk of setting off any fires with fireworks here, it's been that wet. However, now, with 2 more days of hotter than a firecracker weather and a bit of wind, it's drier than heck, with lots and lots of fallen tree branches and brush piles everywhere to feed any fire that does get started. I'm sure there will be some, fireworks or no.

[LadyShea]

Nice pics! I have a hard time getting crisp shots.

We had a BBQ, then took the boat out and anchored it where we had an unobstructed view, and didn't have to fight traffic/crowds.

[Sock Puppet]

I hate noisy fireworks myself, but this year marked the Li'l Puppet's sudden decision that she wasn't afraid of them anymore. And sure enough, although she still covered her ears, she went to watch the display and enjoyed it, even was disappointed when it ended. So that bit was cute 'n' fun. Last year was hell, when she was inconsolable the whole time the explosions were going off.

What I hate about 7/4 (as well as 12/31-1/1) is the sporadic setting-off of the goddamned noisy things throughout all hours of the night. Even worse is when the damned kids decide to discharge their leftovers the following night. :mutter:

[Dingfod]

Or the night after that. Yeah, it sounded like a civil war re-enactment in my neighborhood again last night. Well, not quite the whole war or even a battle, more of a skirmish.

[SharonDee]

Aw, I have a cute picture in my head of the Li'l Puppet with her li'l hands over her li'l ears! :aww:

What I hate about 7/4 (as well as 12/31-1/1) is the sporadic setting-off of the goddamned noisy things throughout all hours of the night. Even worse is when the damned kids decide to discharge their leftovers the following night. :mutter:No, what's worse is the practice runs they do every freakin' night for a week before the Great Holiday and then they discharge the leftovers for another seven days.

Oh. Joy.

(I was going to make a joke here about disguising gunfire with fireworks but then I remembered the events in Shelli's neighborhood and refrained.)

[viscousmemories]

I thought it was pretty odd that I didn't hear a single snap, crackle or pop that night.

[Legs]

I heard the fireworks but I couldn't see them :sadcheer:

[Joshua Adams]

They're setting them off again :grumpy:

[maddog]

It was not really a happy 4th for me. I think the American experiment in liberty, in constitutional democracy, may well be already over.

#1678

[Dingfod]

But ... the fireworks ...