Happy Independence Day

[Cathulhu]

Want to share one (actually two) things I'm celebrating today; my dads. My own dad drove a tank for Patton, and is still here to occasionally raise a little hell, and I'll be talking to him by phone today and seeing him this weekend. He and Mom won't leave the farm on the 4th, they're watching for fires. My father-in-law, who was all of 18 when he was taken as a POW at the Battle of the Bulge, is a dedicated firework lover. Give that man a rocket, and suddenly there's an adorable 12 year old where previously there was an elderly man.

So I am celebrating my annual misdemeanor. It's legal to buy fireworks on Injun territory, and there are places all around here that I can. But it is neither legal to use or even possess them where I live. As a matter of fact, the cops are well known to lie in wait outside the biggest shops and bust people as they leave the parking lot. It's a ticket and you get your fireworks confiscated. But where my well-loved other dad lives, it's legal to own and set them off. It helps that he lives on the waterfront, and we fire the mortars out over the water safely.

So I am pleased to note that I still find it entirely worthwhile to score the fireworks (got 30 professional-grade shells!), smuggle them home, take them out to the canal, and then I'm legal again. I haven't been caught yet, and the fellow Injuns at the fireworks stand threw in an extra bag of fountains and asked me to tell Dad "thanks for your service." Tonight Dad and I will have a wonderful time setting off fireworks on the beach, and Mom and my spouse will sit together and critique our efforts. And I made a really good pot of chili so Mom doesn't need to exhaust herself; she's been poorly and sitting with her son will make her feel better than anything else.

Can't think of anything I'd rather do, unless I could talk my own parents off the farm to join us. Happy 4th, fellow Quatloosian Americans! And to our non-USA members, I'm really glad the Canada Day terrorists were busted.

[Pottapaug1938]

Since July 1, and continuing through today, I've been flying a 34-star Stars and Stripes, as well as the 1861 Stars and Bars, in honor of my great-great-grandfather who served on the Union Right, at Gettysburg, with the 4th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and was in the thick of the fighting on Culp's Hill. I'm keeping the flags up today because this is also the 150th anniversary of the Confederate surrender at Vicksburg.

[LaVidaRoja]

My great-grandfather (my father's grandfather) was in the 73rd Ohio Infantry. He was also at Gettysburg 150 years ago today.

[Burnaby49]

We had our equivalent of Independence day on July 1, called Canada Day. My father's family saw extensive service in the war. There were four brothers. They all volunteered at the start of the war and all four fought in the front lines. One was shot and killed in the battle of Ortona in Italy. Another was a tank commander in France. Story is that he was standing in the open hatch of his tank when it was hit by a shell. He blew out of the tank like a cork out of a bottle with two broken legs. Rest of crew killed. My father saw service in north Africa, France, and Germany. Got jaundice in Africa. Fourth brother made it through uninjured.

[fortinbras]

Adam Kokesh, who had tried to organized a "million" people to bring loaded guns into Washington, DC, on July 4th - considering the crowds downtown for the fireworks display, this would either make not a ripple or else lead to some sort of massacre, called off this scheme last week. But today he posted on the internet a video of himself, in downtown DC, presumably made today, showing just himself, with a semi-automatic and putting a loaded magazine into it. This would be, if true, a criminal offense.

We have only his statement that the video was made today. Law enforcement has not found him in DC. The spot where he is standing in the video is within range of four or five security cameras, and the FBI and police say they will be checking them to determine exactly when he made his video. In his video the sky looks like early morning and the street behind him is empty.

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On an unrelated note, in view of the terrible heat waves around the country, I would very much like to warn everyone about the risk of dehydration or heat prostration. These ailments are caused by the body core being heated beyond the safe limits (the limits seem to be lower in old age). It does not require any sort of exertion to put yourself at risk. I suffered heat prostration about 5 years back, just sitting still and in the shade; within hours I have severe nausea and weakness as I were suddenly in the second day of a week-long flu. Much bed rest, cool water, and air conditioning is required for recovery - in bad cases even hospitalization and IV infusions of water. And ever since I have been increasingly vulnerable to heat waves. So be careful.

[Prof]

I flew my Father's burial flag yesterday from my balcony -- US Army Artillery, WWII. He would have appreciated the gesture. The balcony is off of our bedroom, outside of which, in the hall, is the percussion cap conversion that my Mother's grandfather used to kill Yankees -- three of my great grandfathers fought for the Confederacy but their grandchildren served in WWI, WWII, and their great grandchildren in WWII, Korea, and Vietnam. Now, my son-in-law is in Afghanistan.

The caissons just keep rolling along, and it looks as if we'll be studying war for a while longer.

[Judge Roy Bean]

Thanks to a pre-takeoff mechanical failure on an American Airlines aircraft, Mrs. Bean and I spent the evening of July 4th in a hotel where we got to watch fireworks displays being put on all over the city we were stranded in.

[fortinbras]

Judge, you probably got the best of the deal. I've been in crowds on the ground on the Capitol Mall, in roasting heat and among nitwits of various degrees of bad temper and inebriation, to watch the fireworks and then try to get home via a bus line that stopped running two hours earlier. After that, I stayed in my apartment building, and joined neighbors on the roof where we could see the aerial fireworks from at least five different displays.

[JamesVincent]

I was in Kentucky with family for the Fourth, enjoying the wonderful non-stop rainstorms and no fireworks. One thing I did do, and something I do every year is watch Independence Day, if for nothing else then to watch, IMO, the best Presidential speech ever.... real or movie. Bill Pullman pulled it off perfectly.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_U5qU-QqYd0

[Hilfskreuzer Möwe]

Adam Kokesh, who had tried to organized a "million" people to bring loaded guns into Washington, DC, on July 4th - considering the crowds downtown for the fireworks display, this would either make not a ripple or else lead to some sort of massacre, called off this scheme last week. But today he posted on the internet a video of himself, in downtown DC, presumably made today, showing just himself, with a semi-automatic and putting a loaded magazine into it. This would be, if true, a criminal offense.

We have only his statement that the video was made today. Law enforcement has not found him in DC. The spot where he is standing in the video is within range of four or five security cameras, and the FBI and police say they will be checking them to determine exactly when he made his video. In his video the sky looks like early morning and the street behind him is empty.

Is this the man in question?

• http://www.cnn.com/2013/07/10/us/dc-kokesh-search/
  
  http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/07/10/po ... am-kokesh/
  
  http://FreeAdam.net/
  
  http://www.facebook.com/ADAMVSTHEMAN

He seems quite popular in Freeman circles.

SMS Möwe

P.S. Belated holiday and best wishes to our southern neighbors.

[fortinbras]

Yes, that's the guy.

Listen, everyone, have a safe and sane Bastille Day!!

[fortinbras]

About a year later, Adam Kokesh is convicted of firearms & related offenses. He will be sentenced on Sept 5th and faces as much as 15 years:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/cri ... story.html