Enjoy the fireworks, to whatever extent your local government allows. Raise a glass to the spirit of freedom, as long as you don’t get on the wrong side of the law for public intoxication. Celebrate the freest country in the world, while being careful not to say anything that might attract the attention of the NSA, FBI, IRS, CIA, or other surveillance agency whose existence is currently being kept secret.
Create some joyful booms and bangs of your own, subject of course to those 20,000+ federal, state, and local laws (which surely you’ve memorized), and the completely scrupulously fair and understandable regulations of the ATF.
Drive home safely from your celebrations. And don’t worry; most likely you won’t be stopped on some phony pretext and murdered by an agent of the state who claims to have been scared of you. Be sure not to carry “too much” cash during your holiday travels, though, unless you want to finance the cops in some town you happen to pass through.
Remember that you are one of We the People, for whom government employees at all levels are your faithful and dedicated servants.
And remember gratefully those brave men who bought you what little freedom you have left.
[…] Clarity. […]
Too damned true
I have long been saying something that Claire Wolfe intimates in her excellent commentary, infra.
” If you are not paranoid, it is only because you have not been paying enough attention.”
Claire’s observant analysis is spot on. We celebrate freedoms that we no longer are allowed to enjoy.
The noose tightens….
“If you are not paranoid, it is only because you have not been paying enough attention.”
Pithy
Happy Independence Day! We had our fireworks show last evening, courtesy of Jim and Bub! My daughter and her husband and my older son and his girlfriend are coming over today to celebrate with a cookout of St Louis style spareribs, Rene’s recipe of baked beans and pasta salad. Yes, there will be beer! 🙂
I’m so grateful for our heroic and beloved protectors and lawgivers.
Really. I think all the time about how grateful I am.
For several years our local Chamber of Commerce and Women’s Chamber convinced City Council that we really needed to hire a Name Band, do Social Media Advertising, attract lots of Millennial Tourists from Big Cities, sell Vendor Booths, Charge Admission and prohibit Outside Food And Drink so we could make lots of money from our Fourth of July Celebration in our city park.
After several years of loosing their ass, we’ve returned to local musicians and local families at the free Fourth on the River, in the park.
True, one of our local bands is Robert Earl King, but he’s donating the show. The fireworks are sponsored by the Iranian refugee who owns the best local Mexican restaurant.
So, Freedom.
http://kerrvilletx.gov/809/4th-on-the-River
[…] RTWT at: Happy Independence Day – Living Freedom […]
Happy Independencw Day! Painted another section of the truck, watered the garden, got the swamp cooler running for another summer. Now I am headed to the firing range out.the back door for a little target practice. Afterwards will hoist a round to absent companions.
Tonight I will contribute to the local neighborhood (anybody within line of sight on this flat Wyoming plain) fireworks display. All my pyrotechnics come from a little fireworks store that is unlicensed .. because we don’t need any stinking licenses.
Y’all take care .. and exerise your rights just like there was no question that you truly have them.
Yeah, pithy. I haven’t been around here much–it’s too tough to find something to correct!–but I hope you have a great holiday Claire, and every day. That’s to anyone who earned it and knows how to live it…make every day a great day.
In truth we are “allowed” to enjoy that which is ours. This is because no power on Earth can stop it. It just takes immense courage and strength, and more than a few wits to boot.
Me, I finally accept it. Like it or not, we are all Warriors now.
Every year I say how much I hate fireworks… OK, I get that I’m pretty much alone in that. So I won’t say it this year. But I’m still standing up inside. 🙂
It is my intent to make TJ and the boys proud of me pursuit of happiness today!
COMMENT FOR JULY 4TH
On this July the Fourth – as the official anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence is called in America – readers may find this analysis interesting:
https://chuckmanwords.wordpress.com/2014/07/07/reflections-on-the-origins-and-meaning-of-americas-independence-day-re-posted-from-6-years-ago-nothing-having-changed/
🙂 Robert Earl King (Keen) played folk muzak during happy hour at my folk music club in Austin in 1980. $5, beers and a sandwich as pay. After some career-stumbling he put a group together, went to Nashville and the rest is history.
I only know one other female human person who doesn’t like fireworks – most pets and a lot of guys who have been shot at don’t, either – and she goes to Canada on the 4th to get away.
Blowing up stuff has fascinated me since I was a kid. Just a normal guy.
Want to piss off everyone? Think, and do, for yourself. What a concept!
Mr. Bowman, thinking for yourself and uttering those thoughts in a friendly manner can often create what I call a “mental hot-foot”. It can be cruel in that it forces thought onto the unthinking. The smile obviates any urge for hostility. 🙂
Robert Earl King
Dang.
Anyway, it was a great evening. The big LEO call was a dog bite, amicably resolved,* and the two kids who got misplaced were each found within five minutes. Fireworks were well up on the “Oooo and Ahhh” scale.
* Rabies vaccination was current.
Others have Independence Day problems as well. http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/19840805/colin-kaepernick-travels-ghana-independence As I am not a member of an officially oppressed class, I have no right to comment on it.