At 12:00 each Independence Day the Salute to the Union is fired on all Army posts that have an artillery battery. The ceremony consists of the reading of the list of states and the date they entered the Union, and the firing of a cannon for each of them.
Happy Independence Day!
Posted by daddybear71 on July 4, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/07/04/salute-to-the-union/
Posted by daddybear71 on July 4, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/07/04/news-roundup-133/
IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.–Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
The 56 signatures on the Declaration appear in the positions indicated:
Column 1
Georgia:
Button Gwinnett
Lyman Hall
George Walton
Column 2
North Carolina:
William Hooper
Joseph Hewes
John Penn
South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge
Thomas Heyward, Jr.
Thomas Lynch, Jr.
Arthur Middleton
Column 3
Massachusetts:
John Hancock
Maryland:
Samuel Chase
William Paca
Thomas Stone
Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Virginia:
George Wythe
Richard Henry Lee
Thomas Jefferson
Benjamin Harrison
Thomas Nelson, Jr.
Francis Lightfoot Lee
Carter Braxton
Column 4
Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris
Benjamin Rush
Benjamin Franklin
John Morton
George Clymer
James Smith
George Taylor
James Wilson
George Ross
Delaware:
Caesar Rodney
George Read
Thomas McKean
Column 5
New York:
William Floyd
Philip Livingston
Francis Lewis
Lewis Morris
New Jersey:
Richard Stockton
John Witherspoon
Francis Hopkinson
John Hart
Abraham Clark
Column 6
New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett
William Whipple
Massachusetts:
Samuel Adams
John Adams
Robert Treat Paine
Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins
William Ellery
Connecticut:
Roger Sherman
Samuel Huntington
William Williams
Oliver Wolcott
New Hampshire:
Matthew Thornton
Posted by daddybear71 on July 4, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/07/04/thought-for-the-day-154/
Posted by daddybear71 on July 4, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/07/04/todays-earworm-180/
Andy Griffith, June 1, 1926 – July 3, 2012
Posted by daddybear71 on July 3, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/07/03/todays-earworm-181/
Good – Having the ability to save a little money each month toward a gun-related purchase
Better – Being within one month of achieving a level of saving that will allow you to buy a new gun
Even Better – Your gun shop has the gun you want and the clerk says that no-one else has asked about it.
Good – Doing your fair share around the house
Better – Recognizing that your spouse is a little overwhelmed and trying to help out
Even Better – Scrubbing the kitchen from top to bottom, gathering up the laundry from the sundry hampers, and doing several loads of laundry on a hot Sunday afternoon.
Even Better Than That – Noticing that your lovely and very hard-working spouse has not done her own laundry for quite a while, so you do a load specifically made up of her clothes, but throw in one of your work shirts and a pair of pants so you’ll have something fresh to wear on Monday.
Not So Good – Not noticing the pen in the pocket of your work shirt when you throw it in the washer.
Definitely Not Good – Not noticing the pen when you throw the load of laundry in the dryer
Bad – Your loving and very worthy spouse being the one to find that almost all of her favorite shirts, shorts, work pants, and work tops are now dotted with black permanent ink.
Worse – Your clothing in the same load doesn’t have a dot on it.
Even Worse – It’s not the first time you’ve done this.
Not Sure If It’s Good Or Bad – You fixed your leather recliner over the weekend, so you at least have somewhere to sleep.
Good – Your loving, wonderful spouse, after becoming emotional about the loss of her best clothes, both of the work and play variety, decides that she needs you alive, so you continue to breathe for another day.
Definitely Bad – Emptying your “Gun Fund” to give to your loving, worthy, irate, and hopefully forgiving spouse to replace all of the clothes you’ve ruined.
Maybe Bad – She refuses the money, for now, while she investigates how much it’s going to cost to replace said clothing.
Probably Bad – Your spouse informs you that the stores have a very limited selection of summer clothes, as they are stocking up on fall collections at the moment, so she may not be able to find replacements as inexpensively as she did with the originals.
Good – I’m still breathing. I may be an idiot, but I’m a live idiot.
Yep, it’s been one of those days for the past 24 hours. How have all of you been?
Posted by daddybear71 on July 3, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/07/03/good-versus-bad/
The time is now near at hand which must probably determine whether Americans are to be freemen or slaves; whether they are to have any property they can call their own; whether their houses and farms are to be pillaged and destroyed, and themselves consigned to a state of wretchedness from which no human efforts will deliver them. The fate of unborn millions will now depend, under God, on the courage and conduct of this army. Our cruel and unrelenting enemy leaves us only the choice of brave resistance, or the most abject submission. We have, therefore, to resolve to conquer or die. — George Washington
My Take – It is long past time to halt the decline of our country. If we hope to pass on a world worth having to our children and their children, we must get off our butts and start making it so. We can no longer put off the hard decisions or avoid the painful steps. The time has come to return to what we truly are and leave behind that which we have become.
Posted by daddybear71 on July 3, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/07/03/30-days-of-the-founding-fathers/
A couple of thoughts here, and I beg your indulgence while I get a bit preachy.
First, a picture one of my FaceSpace friends:
When my parents split up, they violated each and every piece of advice the good judge would have given them. We were sources of income, tools to harm each other, and inconveniences. I’ve been divorced. One of the most important promises I have ever kept was one I made to myself, and that was to never deride the mothers* of my children or allow anyone else to do it where it was at all possible they could hear. Some of the worst arguments that Irish Woman and I have had were over me not showing anger over something the ex had done or letting Irish Woman complain to me in front of the kids.
My reward to my parents for the way they acted during and after their divorce is to make them non-entities in the lives of my children, and I will never put my children in the position of having to question whether or not being around me would be healthy for their children. I bite my tongue, I deescalate to the point of prostration, and I give way more than should be asked just so that my kids never hear or see anything from me that will make them think that I believe that 50% of their make-up is wrong.
Anyway, it’s better for the ex’es to demonstrate their ignorance to the kids themselves.
Next, a note on stepchildren: You divorce the spouse, not their children. Little Bear was already baking when I met his mother, and he has known no father but me. He is as much my son as Junior and Boo, and he always will be. When you marry someone with kids, you take on an awesome responsibility, one that I believe is harder than if they were biologically yours. You not only have to be a parental figure, whether you want to or not, you usually also have to deal with the other parental figure in the body of the ex. You can either be a bad example, such as the wicked stepmother syndrome or the jerk stepdad, or you can just be a good parent. If the marriage to their parent doesn’t work out, if the child still wants and needs you to be there for them, you should at least consider doing what it takes to be a part of their lives.
Finally, we get to the subject of an excellent post by cybrus. As fathers, we don’t babysit, we parent. I don’t spend time with my kids because I’m being forced, I do it because it’s what a father does. I agree with cybrus: Dads need to get off their butts and parent, either solo or in tandem. One of the reasons I haven’t spoken to my father in over 25 years is because his children were an imposition on his life, and we knew it. Unless you want that for yourself, spend some time with your kids.
One last thought – Most of the people I know who have kids are excellent parents. They love them, care for them, discipline them, and enjoy them. It’s the parents who drop the ball that make life harder for everyone else. If you’re taking care of business, you have my thanks.
*Yes, plural. Quick hint to the young people out there: Never get hitched when you’re on the rebound from a marriage. It doesn’t end well for anyone involved.
Posted by daddybear71 on July 2, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/07/02/on-parenting/
A wise and frugal Government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government, and this is necessary to close the circle of our felicities. — Thomas Jefferson
My Take – Good government is small government. For over a century, we have forgotten the adage “Mind your own bloody business” when it comes to the government. The goal of my generation should be to trim back government to at least the level of overreach under which our grandparents lived. If we can do that, the momentum should be strong enough for our children to continue until government returns to its proper, minor role in the lives of the citizenry.
Posted by daddybear71 on July 2, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/07/02/30-days-of-the-founding-fathers-day-29/
Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence. — John Adams
My Take – Do not be fooled by your heart when you should be thinking with your head. Do not let your feelings get in the way of doing the right thing. Work with what you know, not what you believe.
Posted by daddybear71 on July 1, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/07/01/30-days-of-the-founding-fathers-day-28/
DaddyBear’s Den 