July 04, 2008

Landscape

Fighting snow, deep and burning; and a mountain that threatened my very existence.
I approached the summit through the somber, pale darkness.
The wind, my adversary turned lover; whispers sweetly in my ear.
“Remember why you're here.”
I find a somewhat comfortable position in a crevice and wait.
Expectations, anticipation, resignations disappear.
The Sunrise.

Happy Independence Day, Americans all. While I can't enjoy the festivities to the same extent as many of you back in the United States. I can indulge myself in a little contemplation on the subject of freedom.

I honestly believe that the founding fathers were great men. Courageous men who took no small risk when they gathered to sign the Declaration of Independence.
According to the laws of the King they were committing acts of sedition as well as treason; either on it's own would earn them a visit to the gallows or a very gruesome quartering.

Yet for all the risk, they had it easy. While they fought for our freedom we have to fight to keep it. There are those - and they are not necessarily foreign- who work very hard to deprive us of or at the very least curtail; the rights that thousands of Americans gave their lives to protect.



We love to show our respect for the flag on the Fourth of July!

These ladies exemplify the true spirit of the American people. Our love for the flag knows no bounds and I for one tremble in humble excitement in anticipation of the raising of the flag.
What else might rise on that occasion?



Well beer of course!
Raise them brewskies and slug them back. Don't forget to get good and smashed before you start playing with pyrotecnics and various explosives or driving home.

When you have time don't forget to give thanks and recognition to...




The Cook!
There he is dressed to perfection in this years finest asbestos free flame retardent outerwear.
As well as sporting the finest in cooking utensils. He'll need them to whip up plenty of
steriod laden burgers dogs and steaks on the finest of grills.



This baby not only gets great milage going from the backyard to the supermarket.
By the time you park it on your lawn most of the food will be ready for consumption.

Happy birthday America!

16 comments:

C. said...

Happy fourth to you as well honey, hope you managed to enjoy it from a distance, we are thinking of you over there and I will light a firecracker in your honor! *smiles*

Pink said...

Woo Hoo! Happy 4th! I love this day :) even though I'm not American...fireworks rock!

moi said...

Happy Fourth to you, too! You may not currently be residing in this great, glorious, damn fine mess of a country of ours, but that doesn't matter. Misplace yourself all you want, you'll always remain a New Yorker and an American and that just rocks.

Corn Dog said...

Fireworks. Dogs. I will be up most of the night holding the big dog saying, "There. There."

Anonymous said...

Poor corndog, I feel for you and completely understand. At one point we would nearly sedate our poor beast for the sounds of explosions would make a nervous wreck out of him. Eventually my little brother got over it and realized there was nothing to fear.Just kidding....But the dog did fret over the sounds. Today being the day of our independence, I fear there is nothing to celebrate knowing how awful it's been for the last 8 years. We have suffered and will suffer for a very long time and even though on this day we celebrate our freedom of choice, religion and rights, it's ironic how our administration had altered that to their own devices. I have hope for a great future, for however long I will live and pray my child will know the true happiness one day of being a born American.
Have a safe and enjoyable 4th one and all and remember, we're all looking for a place of peace.

JGandolfini

sparringK9 said...

excellent and funny essay! nice grill! grrrrherhahaha

curious how some people define hardship and "awful"...their version of hardship is a hardship only the truly blessed could complain about. Id love the poster above me to give me 3 concrete examples of rights that were altered by this administration and how that affected you personally. i want to know. suffering? no. suffering is myanmar. iran. burma. uganda....

enjoy the day NYD i bet theres some bang up fireworks there in lilliputland. /grrrrrr

Mona said...

Happy 4th NYD! :)

The poem 'Landscape' is beautiful! I love the lines : The wind, my adversary turned lover; whispers sweetly in my ear.
“Remember why you're here.”

I witnessed Fireworks on the 4th of July in NY a couple of years ago, by the river Hudson! They were breathtaking!

NYD said...

Claudia~ You're all the firecracker I need.

Pink~ Independence is for everyone! Enjoy!!

Moi~ My sentiments, exactly.

Corndog~ It's so unfortunate that our pets often suffer through the day and night of festivities.

Halvah~ The country has been lead by many different kinds of men. It is the strength of the people and the practice of active democracy that will return the country to a position of respect once again.

Asking immigrants to assimilate into society and contribute to is is a small price they must pay to deserve the prosperity they recieve.

K-9. Down, girl. Down.
I know how you feel and I respect you patriotism, One can't say that one place is good by comparing it to someplace worse. That's akin to comparing a gunshot to a stabbing. Either will do you in.

I know for a fact that JG is as patriotic as you.

The USA Patriot Act passed in 2001 makes it a crime for anyone to contribute money or material support for any group on the State Department’s Terror Watch List.(a capricious list look at north Korea's recent bargaining)

It allows the FBI to monitor and tape conversations between attorneys and clients. (That used to be a No No, right?)

It also allows the FBI to order librarians to turn over information about patron’s reading habits.

the government now has the authority to conduct surveillance on internet and email use of US citizens without notice.

The act also calls for expanded use of National Security Letters (NSLs), which allow the FBI to search telephone, email and financial records of US citizens without a court order.
What no legal precedence needed to spy on me?


the government is exempt from disclosing how evidence against suspected terrorists was obtained and authorizes indefinite detention of immigrants at the discretion of law enforcement and immigration authorities.

Now I ain't personnally affected by them things. But that particular law sure has a tinge of Orweillian police state to me.

Maybe I just a throwback hippie,
Peace!

Mona~ Thank you, Mona.
I hope that NY treated you well during the festivities.

I once dropped an Englishman of a house boat during a fouth of July party.

puerileuwaite said...

OMG, we TRULY are the dorkiest of peoples! I suppose it's a good thing we are also the toughest kids on the block. Happy 4th, buddy.

sparringK9 said...

grrrrherhahaha. okay. i hear ya. i usually i respond to a sharp rap to the hip with a rolled paper.

"down, girl, down" grrherhahaha! i love that. i might make that a post title.

but, i didnt say one place was good because others were worse - i was talking about "suffering" its about specificity of words.

as far as wire tapping the JFK did it to MLK to bring him down...was that suffering? Viacom has youtube turning over the ISP of every youtube poster..is that suffering? google monitors your page visits/ suffering yet? im not saying these are good things, i am saying you have to approach the measurement of a nation with an objective eye. on the average...not so much suffering. orwellian? you'll get no argument there. agreed.


btw, its also a crime to speed on the highway and smoke pot. i havent been to jail yet. grrrrrrherhahahaha

also, in front of friends who feel like JG does, i like to say all the terrorists watch words on my cell phone. nope. no G men yet.

youre a good blog host NYD.

/grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Corn Dog said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Corn Dog said...

You are a good and smart blog host, NYD. A good moderator. I see now I probably play too much with the delete key on my blog. Can I blame it on my bad temper? Probably not.

How is Kitty? Paws to Paws.

The Grunt said...

Did you know that each of those triplets has a set of twins? I think I will sleep well tonight thinking of America and especially the flag.

Serena said...

I'm practically deaf today from the explosions that went on practically all night, but I hope you enjoyed your 4th! I don't know what to say about the flag girls. Or the super-duper grill. LOL.:)

Aunty Belle said...

NYD, I loved this post!!

--sorry I'se late to yore shindig--busy cleanin' up after clan fireworks.

An' good exchanges too. I wanna say somethin' about yore beein' noted heah as a fair moderator:

Ya' practices what ya preach. Ya call fer " the practice of active democracy " , and then you practice that yoreself. Admirable, Sugar.

I reckon folks fergit that we's one of the few places on the planet whar' power and control changes hands wif' out a revolution or coup. Let's us be proud of that!

Natcherly Aunty cain't resist a bit of preachin', so lemme sign off wif this:

Ain't never been no time when the powerful nation was left unchallenged. It ain't the challenge that counts, but the response. Each nation that's ever so challenged gages its response by standards that are from within the culture. But the ONE standard that is top o' the list is survival.

On account of this, Aunty makes a plea that we 'member that no matter who sits in Oval Office, they's gonna have an external challenge. Ain't gonna be no erased board game and settin' up again as a fresh board.

Let's us doan imagine that we know what is known in the OO...they's a whole lot of stuff goin' on backstage of what ya hear from CNN 'bout China, Russia, Middle East, Africa.

Aunty Belle said...

Oh, an there's a Burro out there who better be lookin' over their shoulder. Uh-huh.