A Happy 4th of July to all! My company had the (rare) decency to close tomorrow, so we’ll have a 4-day weekend. It’s supposed to be hot in the East, so I’ll probably stay in the shade with a whistle, a guitar and a well-stocked cooler!..
Y’all have yourselves a great and safe holiday.
plays Stars and Stripes Forever on his kazoo (Boehm)
adds that cool piccolo part on Bloomfield’s teensy weensy r**order
And here’s a way to keep it on topic:
Scottish Snap in “Stars and Stripes Forever”?
Carol
And to my second daughter who arrived in this world in a big hurry at 2.04am on the 4th July 1991 and hasn’t slowed down since.
Happy 12th Birthday Lorna 
Yes, yes, yes, a happy Independence Day to all you Americans out there, and perhaps even to selected non-Americans (an English friend once told me that July 4th was Great Brittain’s Thanksgiving day…)
I will be marching in the parade here in Lander, in my premier performance as a member of the Lander Fire Department Pipe Band. Three pipers and me on bass drum. Should be alot of fun, but I’m a bit concerned about wearing my great kilt in the 95 degree forcasted heat. Hoka hey!
Tom
And England gave thanks on that day that she was finally shed of the Yanks.
Have a safe, and blessed Independence Day!
Hey, I didn’t know you were a drummer for a pipe band too! Ain’t it grand?
I feel for you marching in a kilt though tomorrow. They were never meant for that kind of heat. I’ve seen days when I expected to have to wring out the waist of mine when I peeled it off. 
I posted this in a different thread, yesterday, but somehow it seems fitting here.
Happy 4th you Yanks!
I guess you’ll all be chowing down on hog roast, black eye peas and chittlings, swilling down gallons of vanilla coke (not reformulated for the UK market) and watching fireworks, and generally getting leery.
Have a great one!
Living just a half hour (more or less, depending on traffic 
) from Philadelphia, Independence Day is really “done-up” in these parts of south Jersey and the Delaware Valley. Today also is the grand-opening of the brand new National Constitution Center in Philly and cause for even more celebration! 
I just hope that when I leave for work tonight around 9:45 p.m. all the local fireworks displays are still going on, and that all of the people who’ve celebrated way too much are at home and not behind the wheel of their vehicle!! 
A very Happy 4th to one and all who celebrate this glorious day!!! 
~Larry
Happy Fourth Y’all!!
Have a good day y’all. Enjoy the fun, the fireworks and especially the music.
But be wary of the flag-waving.
And think a bit about how roles have changed in the world in the last two hundred-odd years.
And tomorrow maybe order a copy of Before](http://www.arrisbooks.com/book-pages/1844370011.htm%3EBefore) and After by Phyllis Bennis. I got it as a birthday present from one of my daughters and found it outstandingly clear and straightforward. It might help the bewildered among you to begin to understand "Why do they hate us? ", why even people who admire much about the US and its people also have reason to be critical, and help you to begin a more realistic national debate on the only lasting way to avoid more 11 Septembers.
Actually, Roger, flag waving is an integral part of the parades and celebrations. Most every community parade has dozens of youngsters riding their bicycles, all bedecked with American flags, red, white, and blue bunting, etc. If you’re referring to pontificating about how great this proud country is, well, that, too is an integral part of th holiday. As long as no one goes on and on here promoting the greatness of the USA, I think you should let us celebrate The 4th however we choose!
But thanks for caring!!!
~Larry
Not trying to rain on your parade, and I was quite sincere in wishing you all a good day.
It’s just that people in old Europe have learnt the hard way of the dangers of excessive flag-waving (in Germany’s case the mass-hysteria promoted even literally by flag-waving), and it pains us to see the US, after working through the trauma of Vietnam, regressing to more or less where we were about 1914. But maybe I’m getting too serious.
- Honestly!
HAPPY 4th OF JULY, Y’ALL!!!
We were there in both World Wars, too. An elderly friend of mine was awarded a medal by the French government for his heroism in protecting a group of their people.
and it pains us to see the US, after working through the trauma of Vietnam, regressing to more or less where we were about 1914. But maybe I’m getting too serious.
The flag-waving is nothing new in American culture, it was always there. I once read, in a British book on flags of the world, that the flag serves the same sort of symbolic function in the United States as the crown does in Great Britain, and that is the reason for the peculiar American attitudes toward it.
The flag-waving which I assume you are referring to in Germany, was the flag of a particular party, and a particular leader, a rather different case than the flag of a longstanding federation of 50 united states.
That said, I thoroughly agree that we need to exercise caution, and learn from history. And, while I do not believe the United States have any goals of empire-building, we should be ever vigilant not to head in the wrong direction.
One more thought, aimed at Americans: it wouldn’t hurt us to act a little more humble.
pauses to agree with Walden
and to wish you all a
Super Wonderful Terrific Fourth of July!
Sara (who now goes to pick up some yummy food for tonight… sorry Martin, no hog roast, black eye peas and chittlings, or gallons of vanilla coke here… but we do have fireworks, and my family will be taking the time to gratefully remember those who sacrificed so very much for this country).
Spot on, Martin. Well, not all Yanks, true, but on this occasion there’ll be plenty of folks who will be more forthright than usual in their day-to-day debaucheries for it. 
You know how it is; holidays legitimize the beer. 
On the money, Walden.
There’s not a thing wrong with celebrating and being proud of who we are.
Part of “who we are” involves a free press (and no, if you happen to disagree with a given network’s viewpoints happen that doesn’t mean it isn’t free), lots and lots and lots of differences of opinion, and a voting public who, slowly but surely, is able to change things to suit itself.
All of which means that, as a nation, we are aware of our faults and constantly keeping each other on our toes. This is why democracy seems to work.
Tom