'Firecracker Day'

"The Stars and Stripes Forever" is emanating from the television in the adjacent room. That stirring music is serving as a backdrop as I sit before the keyboard on this Fourth of July evening.
....All day long The History Channel was running "The Revolutionary War," an in depth series about the birth of our country. I watched a great deal of the marathon airing of this program.
....Save a blunder by General Cornwallis allowing his army to be cornered in Yorktown, Virginia, the colonials were on the brink of defeat. The failure of the commander of the British forces, General Clinton, (familiar last name?) to send reinforcements to Yorktown sealed the fate of British rule in America.
....I'm not going to revisit history at length. I wonder how many realize just how close we came to remaining under the rule of a monarchy. That thought sickens me. I cannot understand how in this modern age that the British people still tolerate the very existence of a royal family.
....In all fairness and with a sense of fair play, I should not be questioning what goes on beneath the Union Jack anymore than they would question life beneath Old Glory. After all, today Great Britain is as the United States, a democracy.

Out of the mouths of babes:

I was troubled by an exchange between some kids, probably between ten and twelve years-old that I overheard only this morning.
....A cute little girl shouted gleefully to three boys with dark tans, "Happy Fourth of July!"
....One of the boys shouted back, "It's Firecracker Day, you dumb ass!"
....I was shocked. So was the girl's mother who was standing nearby. "Boys! That wasn't nice. That's no way to talk."
....She steered her daughter, who was now crying onto her porch and into their house. Her husband emerged and confronted them. "Look, in this country, today is Independence Day."
....One of the boys snapped, "It's not Independence Day for us. Our father said we do not recognize it as a holiday. It is 'Firecracker Day' for us."
....I walked across the street and stood next to the girl's father in front of the defiant youths. I said calmly but as a matter of fact, "Because it is our Independence Day you are allowed to come to this country. Because it is Independence Day, you have the right to call it 'Firecracker Day' if you wish. It does not give you right to pick on people and call them names."
...."F**k you, asshole!" one shouted. "Our momma and papa says we can do anything we want and nobody can stop us." With that the boys took off running down the street.
....The other man said to me, "...And they wonder why there is so much bigotry in this country?"
....That incident reminded me of something I'd received in an e-mail.(From a frequent contributor, Earl.)

HARSH, YOU SAY ??? BUT, IT'S THE LAW !!

1. There will be NO special bilingual programs in the schools, NO special ballots for elections, and all government business will be conducted in our language.

2. Foreigners will NOT have the right to vote, no matter how long they are here.

3. Foreigners will NEVER be able to hold political office.

4 Foreigners will NOT be a burden to the taxpayers. No welfare, NO food stamps, NO health care, nor any other government assistance programs.

5. Foreigners can invest in this country, but it must be an amount equal to 40,000 times the daily minimum wage.

6. If foreigners do come and want to buy land that will be okay, BUT options will be restricted. You are NOT allowed to own waterfront property. That property is reserved for citizens naturally born into this country.

7. Foreigners may NOT protest; NO demonstrations, NO waving a foreign flag, NO political organizing, NO "bad-mouthing" our president or his policies. If you do you will be sent home.

8. If you do come to this country illegally, you will be hunted down and sent straight to jail.

Harsh, you say ?

The above laws happen to be the immigration laws of:

MEXICO !

In conclusion: (to those boys)

O say, can you see, by the dawn’s early light,

What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming,

Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight

O’er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?

And the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air

Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there;

O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave

O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

No.1036