I was right, sitting here on a beautiful day, a holiday...

  I heard the rumble and lift and dump of the garbage truck coming down the street. It is the day the nation celebrates Independence. But we are still going about our business, cause we can. Happy Fourth of July! comes from Facebook friends and family... but England has a fourth of July, and if my memory were better I could tell you Germany has a fourth of July, they just spell it better. No, today is not about the date - today is about the idea that was written commented upon, edited and finally approved. So we could hang together as men with unalienable rights? You have to be prepared to die for your beliefs - you don't want to but you know the price of tyranny thwarted.

  Or do you? Do you really know what the words meant then, what the words mean now, or are you content to allow others to tell you what equal means? The Declaration of Independence

  Well, I have to go to the YMCA, trim and cut the grass, clean my rifles and get ready for shooting at an Appleseed tomorrow in Ariel, Washington. So you can see I won't have time to fire off rockets, although I will watch the fireworks from home on the cable with a glass of onion wine. I do believe in those ideas expressed on 2 July, 1776 in Philadelphia long ago and so far away. Hope you do, too. Liberty is so much more than just freedom.

  Maybe the English do celebrate our Independence Day, after all, we aren't dependent on their bounty nor the crumbs from their table, I have to believe that Abraham Lincoln's father was pleased when his son got his majority, at twenty-one, but would always miss the income Abraham gave him from his work. He was still family and a father has pride in the children's accomplishments. Maybe England does celebrate.