Fourth Of July

[Iacobus]

I might copy and paste my blog post about America here. I am writing an other one tonite. Hehe. Fun times.

[ilovechrist]

yep...
exactly what i thought. lots of mixed opinions...

i'm setting up the fireworks outside.. today's homily included an order, telling us to go, not work, but to take a nap. and also to reflect on the gratitude we must show torwards God for giving us such a wonderful country...

and how we need to preserve the morals it still has, b4 they disappear.

[Ash Wednesday]

[quote]This nation really needs Him right now.[/quote]

We do have a lot of ignorant and stubborn people in it. But so does every country.

To me, the term "God Bless America" has been distorted -- in that in the context that indeed the country DOES need God right now, "God Bless America" is a fine exclamation in itself. "God Bless You" is often said, at least historically, to someone who is in a sad state of affairs.

Nowdays, the term "God Bless America" is used as almost a war cry, a rallying cry, and almost in a way an implication that God holds special favor for America more than any other country, which of course, isn't the case.

There's a lot that goes on in this country that really scares the heck out of me. But I still think we have done a lot of good for people. I still think there is something uniquely special about our country in the context of history, and for that, I am proud. There is nothing un-Catholic about loving and being proud of your country. Of course it's un-Catholic to place it above God.

In any case, my 4th today will probably be very quiet, lonely, and very boring. No fireworks, no barbecues, no nothing. (I went to Mass yesterday...) Except evening adoration of the blessed sacrament at my church. I will pray for our country.

[~*AnCoRa33*~]

YKC!

[b][color=red]GOD BLESS AMERICA!!LAND THAT I LOVE![/color]
[color=blue]STAND BESIDE HER,[/color]
[color=red]AND GUIDE HER[/color]
[color=blue]THROUGH THE NIGHT[/color]
[color=red]WITH THE LIGHT FROM ABOVE!!![/color]

[color=blue]FROM THE MOUNTAINS,[/color]
[color=red]TO THE PRAIRES [/color]
[color=blue]TO THE OCEANS, WHITE WITH FOOOOOOOOOAM[/color]
[color=red]GOD BLESS AMERICA[/color]
[color=blue]MY HOME SWEET HOOOOOOOOME!!!!!![/color]
[color=red]GOD BLESS AMERICA, MY HOOOOOOME[/color]
[color=blue]SWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET[/color]
[color=red]HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOME!!!![/color][/b]

[littleflower+JMJ]

i ate hotdogs

[Anna]

Well, I'm sorry that some of y'all seem to have such a negative view of our country.
Yeah, we sure are far from perfect, but this is still the best country to live in on the planet.

You'll not rain on my fireworks!!! [url="http://www.njagyouth.org/Liberty_.htm"]http://www.njagyouth.org/Liberty_.htm[/url]


[font="Impact"]I'm [color=blue]proud[/color] to be an [color=red]American[/color]!!!![/font] WOOT!

And God bless and protect our servicemen and women abroad!

:wub: [color=blue]H[/color][color=red]O[/color][color=blue]O[/color][color=red]A[/color][color=blue]H[/color][color=red]!!!!!![/color]

Pax Christi. <><

Edited July 4, 2004 by Anna

[cmotherofpirl]

Music to read by:
[url="http://users.1st.net/teddi/index30.htm"]http://users.1st.net/teddi/index30.htm[/url]




What to read:

Stand Up for America Speech
By: Beth Chapman, Alabama State Auditor

Copyright, 2003

I’m here tonight because men and women of the United States military have given their lives for my freedom. I am not here tonight because Sheryl Crowe, Rosie O’Donnell, Jane Fonda, Martin Sheen, the Dixie Chicks, Barbra Streisand, George Clooney or Phil Donahue, sacrificed their lives for me.

If my memory serves me correctly, it was not movie stars or musicians, but the United States Military who fought on the shores of Iwo Jima the jungles of Vietnam , and the beaches of Normandy .

Tonight, I say we should support the President of the United States and the U.S. military and tell the liberal, tree-hugging, hippy, Birkenstock wearing, tie-dyed liberals to go make their movies and music and whine somewhere else.

After all, if they lived in Iraq , they wouldn’t be allowed the freedom of speech they’re being given here today - - ironically, they would be put to death at the hands of Sadam Husssein or Osama Bin Laden.

I want to know how the very people who are against war because of the loss of life, can possibly be the same people who are for abortion?

They are the same people who are for animal rights but against the rights of the unborn.

The movie stars say they want to go to Iraq and serve as human shields for the Iraqis, I say let them buy a one-way ticket and go.

No one likes war, I hate war. But the one thing I hate more is the fact that this country has been forced into war—innocent people have lost their lives - - and there but for the grace of God, it could have been my brother, my husband, or even worse my own son.

On December 7, 1941 , there are no records of movie stars treading the blazing waters of Pearl Harbor .

On September 11, 2001 ; there are no photos of movie stars standing as human shields against the debris and falling bodies descending from the World Trade Center . There were only policemen and firemen - -underpaid civil servants who gave their all with nothing expected in return.

When the USS Cole was bombed, there were no movie stars guarding the ship - - where were the human shields then?

If America’s movie stars want to be human shields, let them shield the gang-ridden streets of Los Angeles, or New York City, let them shield the lives of the children of North Birmingham whose mothers lay them down to sleep on the floor each night to shelter them from stray bullets.

If they want to be human shields, I say let them shield the men and women of honesty and integrity who epitomize courage and embody the spirit of freedom by wearing the proud uniforms of the United States Military. Those are the people who have earned and deserve shielding.

Throughout the course of history, this country has remained free, not because of movie stars and liberal activists but because of brave men and women who hated war too - - but lay down their lives so that we all may live in freedom. After all – What greater love hath no man, that he lay down his life for his friend,” but in this case a country.

We should give our military honor and acknowledgement and not let their lives be in vain. If you want to see true human shields, walk through Arlington Cemetery . There lie human shields, heroes, and the BRAVE Americans who didn’t get on television and talk about being human shields, they were human shields.

I thank God tonight for freedom - - those who bought and paid for it with their lives in the past - - those who will protect it in the present and defend it in the future.

America has remained silent too long. God-fearing people have remained silent too long.

We must lift our voices united in a humble prayer to God for guidance and the strength and courage to sustain us throughout whatever the future may hold.

After the tragic events of Sept. 11th, my then eleven -year-old son said terrorism is a war against us and them and if you’re not one of us, then you’re one of them.

So in closing tonight, let us be of one accord, let us stand proud, and let us be the human shields of prayer, encouragement and support for the President, our troops and their families and our country.

May God bless America , the land of the free, the home of the brave and the greatest country on the face of this earth!

###

Copyright, 2003






Tony Parsons is a British Journalist. This appeared in a London newspaper.
by Tony Parsons

I HOPE that the continent of Europe never again needs help from the United States of America.

I hope that there's never some murderous little tyrant -- another Hitler, another Milosevic - that Europe needs help in taming.

I hope that there's never some economic catastrophe that requires American dollars to make it right, as they did at the end of the Second World War.

I hope that the euro experiment works. I hope that all those peace-loving souls in Belgium, Germany and France can somehow muster an army to protect themselves.

I hope that the continent I live on never again needs to go cap in hand to the Americans.

Because if that black day ever comes, I have the feeling that America might just tell Europe where to go.

On the eve of war, there is a tangible anger in America. But surprisingly little of it is directed against the Iraqis. It is the French who are detested.

"This is all about oil," the Brits hear all the time. And Americans think it is "all about oil" too. The $50billion worth of oil contracts that France has with Iraq. In American eyes, that is why the French are so keen to avoid war.

Anti-French feeling in the United Kingdom is never more than a passing fancy, a jokey bit of "hop-off-you-Frogs" banter. Not in America.

THE cafeteria in the House of Representatives no longer serves French fries -- chips to you and me, guvnor. Now they sell something called "freedom fries." That sounds nuts -- and of course it is. But when a furious Congresswoman presents a "bring home our dead" bill demanding that the 75,000 American men and boys who died in France during two world wars be dug up and brought home, you realize that this is more than "hop-off-you-Frogs" banter.

Congresswoman Ginny Brown-Waite says, "The remains of our brave servicemen should be buried in patriotic soil, not in a country that has turned its back on the US and on the memory of Americans who fought and died there."

That's the difference between the British and the Americans. We do not feel that the British casualties in two world wars died to liberate the French. We believe that we were fighting for our nation's survival. Just like the Russians. It is different for Americans.

Throughout the 20th century, through two world wars and one Cold War, America gave all the blood and money Europe needed to keep it free. They feel that the current crisis has proved that Europeans are, when all is said and done, an ungrateful bunch of Euro bastards who do not give a flying baguette about the 75,000 American graves in Europe.

Anti-European feeling goes right across the board of public opinion, even among the millions of Americans who are passionately against attacking Iraq. America is united in feeling betrayed by Europe. America is finally starting to understand that -- to Europe's eternal shame -- there is an opinion that 9/11 was America's comeuppance.

Secretaries and waiters leaping from the top of the burning twin towers? The fault of American arrogance. A terrified four-year-old girl cowering at the back of a hijacked plane? Blame it on America's support for Israel. A stewardess with her throat slit by a carpetcutter? One in the eye for American imperialism. Those 3,000 dead, murdered on live television? Europe blames America.

When 9/11 happened, you might have expected to see Palestinians dancing in the street. But who would have expected the grim look of satisfaction on the faces of old Europe?

But the British are absolved of Europe's sins. Those who are against the war admire Britain because we had a peace march where one million people filled the streets.

Those for the war admire Britain because Tony Blair has been a true friend to America. And although the man on the M25 might make jibes about Blair being a "poodle," among American hawks our Prime Minister is seen as dangerously strong-willed.

THERE is a school of opinion in America that believes the war could have been over by last Christmas if Tony Blair had not been so keen on proceeding through the correct diplomatic channels. Nobody calls Tony Blair a poodle in the USA.

It has been good to be British in America these past few weeks.

For America has been reminded that Britain is the best friend it has in the world, joined by blood, language, history, instinct and culture. When will the British wake up from their pathetic little dreams of being Europeans and realize that we have been looking for our future in all the wrong places?

Who wants to be European today? Who wants to be an ungrateful, unprincipled, two-faced, pacifist, Euro-grasping, oil-hungry Lilliputian?

No matter what happens over the coming days and weeks, it is true what they say. The English Channel is far wider than the Atlantic.







--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You probably missed it in the news, but there was recently a report that someone in Pakistan had published in a newspaper an offer of a reward to anyone who killed an American, any American. So an Australian dentist wrote the following to let everyone know what an American is, so they would know when they found one:

How to spot an American

An American is English, or French, or Italian, Irish, German, Spanish, Polish, Russian or Greek. An American may also be Canadian, Mexican, African, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Australian, Iranian, Asian, or Arab, or Pakistani, or Afghan. An American may also be a Cherokee, Osage, Blackfoot, Navaho, Apache, Seminole or one of the many other tribes known as Native Americans.

An American is Christian, or he could be Jewish, or Buddhist, or Muslim. In fact, there are more Muslims in America than in Afghanistan. The only difference is that in America they are free to worship as each of them chooses. An American is also free to believe in no religion. For that he will answer only to God, not to the government, or to armed thugs claiming to speak for the government and for God.

An American is from the most prosperous land in the history of the world. The root of that prosperity can be found in the Declaration of Independence, which recognizes the God given right of each person the pursuit of happiness.

An American is generous. Americans have helped out just about every other nation in the world in their time of need. When Afghanistan was overrun by the Soviet army 20 years ago, Americans came with arms and supplies to enable the people to win back their country. As of the morning of September 11, Americans had given more than any other nation to the poor in Afghanistan.

Americans welcome the best; the best products, the best books, the best music, the best food, the best athletes. But they also welcome the least.

The national symbol of America, The Statue of Liberty, welcomes your tired and your poor, the wretched refuse of your teeming shores, the homeless, tempest tossed. These in fact are the people who built America. Some of them were working in the Twin Towers the morning of September 11, 2001 earning a better life for their families. I've been told that the World Trade Center victims were from at least 30 other countries, cultures, and first languages, including those that aided and abetted the terrorists.

So you can try to kill an American if you must. Hitler did. So did General Tojo, and Stalin, and Mao Tse-Tung, and every bloodthirsty tyrant in the history of the world. But, in doing so you would just be killing yourself. Because Americans are not a particular people from a particular place. They are the embodiment of the human spirit of freedom. Everyone who holds to that spirit, everywhere, is an American.

Edited July 4, 2004 by cmotherofpirl

[heyyoimjohnny]

[quote name='Ash Wednesday' date='Jul 4 2004, 03:27 PM'] To me, the term "God Bless America" has been distorted -- in that in the context that indeed the country DOES need God right now, "God Bless America" is a fine exclamation in itself. "God Bless You" is often said, at least historically, to someone who is in a sad state of affairs.

Nowdays, the term "God Bless America" is used as almost a war cry, a rallying cry, and almost in a way an implication that God holds special favor for America more than any other country, which of course, isn't the case. [/quote]
That reminds me of when, in [i]Head of State[/i] the white guy says, "God bless america... and no place else!" and everybody cheers. Only it was funny cuz it was a joke in a movie. It's becoming a realism.

[Ash Wednesday]

[quote]You'll not rain on my fireworks!!![/quote]

Hehe...

[MG's_mom]

What some of you may not realize (or maybe you do that because America is what it is, you are all free to complain about it if you want to.

I personally want to thank God for leading our founding fathers to create the country we are blessed to inhabit. So, "God Bless America" becomes, "God, Continue to Bless America!"

[Oik]

Iacobus, i don't understand your reasoning.

Also, I voted "proud" because I believe that God put me in this country for a reason. I am not necessarily proud of the bad things that my country has done, but then again, I'm not prund of all the bad sins I have commited! I don't hate myself.

Mother teresa loved india, JPII loves Poland, in fact several saints have loved thier country.

[ryanmeyersmusic]

yep, God bless America and nobody else...

It's kind of hard to be proud to be an American... I'll settle for lucky to be an American...

[voiciblanche]

[quote name='geetarplayer' date='Jul 4 2004, 02:52 PM'] Sorry if this seems selfish and unpatriotic, but I see no need to support my country if I can just support the love that knows no nationalities. The United States of America has a lot of ignorant and stubborn people in it. Our society and our government are not making a lot of good decisions these days. I believe in freedom, liberty, and all that stuff that seems to have been labled as American only. I support those in the armed forces, American or otherwise. I wonder why God should bless America with all the things our government and society do to shame Him. I think, if anything, God should guide and help America. This nation really needs Him right now.

-Mark [/quote]

[Iacobus]

[quote]
[i]I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.[/i]

I was motived by Voici speaking of the pledge in her blog and the limit of human endurance this whole Regean thing has pushed me to to speak on an American Matter. Therefore I give to the world, AM:I. Hehe.

In the morning when we say the pledge these are the words in my mind

[i]I under duress pledge nothing to the cloth of the Fascist States of America, for the Lies and Deciet for which it stands, one quagmire, God save, torn and divided nation, with liberty and justice for some.[/i]

As I think that shows, I am rather disilluioned with the US. But why?

Until a bit after 9/11 I loved America. I supported her. I was part of America, no matter what. But after 9/11 I made a "mistake" and did something highly unpopular. I disagreed with Bush. And I let it be know in my school. I would get drilled by the students about it. I was called a terrorist and much worse. And I thought about it. That is the result of patoritism. People do not like dessent.

So I was upset and still am. I thought of myself as without a nation. Esp when the US invaded Iraq. I was even more vocal than.

But this just made life hard on me. I had to put up with all this crud from freedom "loving" (yet wanting to rescrit) Americans. So I just became, and still partly am, oblivious to them.

I just torlated it. It hurt and it made me upset, sad, and angrey. But I held it in. I sought out someone with like views as me and I found it in, what seemed to me to be an unlikly place,

C.S. Lewis

I got The Four Loves as a confrimation gift from my parents. In the second "part" "Likings and Longings for the Sub-Human" I found solace. Lewis in the last serveal pages of that part speaks of Kipling and others and their writings of the Great British Empire and their loyality to her. Lewis writes that we are never loyal to a nation. We may be partial to the town and house of our birth, the region of our youth, etc. But we do not commit ourselves to an idea (the crown) or to a nation. Nationism is in essence, a pile of dog waste.

Moreover, Lewis warns of how partotism leads to and is the root of great intorlance and hated. Well, I can vocuh that it is from my personal exprices. Being called an American hater for not submiting to an unhealthy hero worhisp of Bush and a failure to declare him to be infallible. But also in my school there is a family of Arabs. They are particing Mulisms. I don't know them very well but I have had some interaction with them. The girls were the head scarfs (not burkas) and they are allowed outside of the house in public without a male escort. So they aren't hard line extremists. But they are still Mulsim.

They own the BP station on 251/72. Many people, after 9/11 and so on, refused to shop there and to even spend a dime there. Why? What would compel them to drive the extra 20 minutes to get gas? They fact that the owners were "Arab Muslims Commie American Hating terrorists." Those were the true American patorits speaking.

Things like that have caused me to become disillousided with America. It is not that I hate her. I love Byron, I love IL, I love the Midwest. But I don't care for her in the state she is in today. If I could even over look the 4,100 abortions a day, I still couldn't love her. Americans have become greed, martialist, Machvilli supporting people. Good still does come but not as much. More and more the little good that shines out like a beam of light is erroded away.
[/quote]

[voiciblanche]

I do love that pledge, Jacob...