Confirmed: Quarter of the Population Really Stupid

Believe it or not there are people this weekend who may be celebrating our independence from China.

As grills across America fire up this weekend some Americans may want to crack open a history book instead of a cold beer.

A Marist poll finds that 26 percent of Americans don’t know whom the United States declared its independence from.

The 26 percent includes 6 percent that are unsure that the United States fought any war of independence at all. Other respondents gave a range of countries that included France, China, Mexico, Spain and Japan, according to the pollsters at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y.

For the record, it was Great Britain we broke away from.

Independence Day 2008

And thus it was done. 232 years ago our forefathers pledged everything, their lives, their fortunes, and their honor, to give rise to this nation. We have traveled far in such a short period of time, measured as it is against the rise of other nations. I would hope we have much further to travel on this path of greatness.
It is easy today to get discouraged by the cacophony of voices who see nothing but gloom and misery in this great land, but there is much to revere and cherish in the history of our nation. There have been bumps along the path, but none that we haven't handled. Our nation is still the one most other countries and peoples wish to emulate.
So on this Independence Day I ask not that we harp or dwell on what we perceive to be wrong, for people of every persuasion will find things they do not like, but rather we remember the Founding Fathers, and all that they risked and all they envisioned for this country.
I urge all of us to take to heart the final words of the Declaration of Independence.

- 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.

It's the Fourth of July

Before getting too busy with the final preparations for your family's 4th of July observance, sit the kids down for a few minutes to learn a history lesson.

A few years ago, Red Skelton - a real comedian - explained to his nation-wide audience, the significance of the Pledge of Allegiance and how it's personal nature serves as one of the keys to the American Experience.

So, round up the kids, the grandkids -- the neighbor's kids. What the hell, get the neighbors, too. There's no sense in sharing this with the kids only.



OK, Kossies, snivel.

Happy Birthday, America

A fitting tribute is The Americans Who Risked Everything, by Rush H. Limbaugh Jr.

It was a glorious morning. The sun was shining and the wind was from the southeast. Up especially early, a tall bony, redheaded young Virginian found time to buy a new thermometer, for which he paid three pounds, fifteen shillings. He also bought gloves for Martha, his wife, who was ill at home.

Thomas Jefferson arrived early at the statehouse. The temperature was 72.5 degrees and the horseflies weren't nearly so bad at that hour. It was a lovely room, very large, with gleaming white walls. The chairs were comfortable. Facing the single door were two brass fireplaces, but they would not be used today.

The moment the door was shut, and it was always kept locked, the room became an oven. The tall windows were shut, so that loud quarreling voices could not be heard by passersby. Small openings atop the windows allowed a slight stir of air, and also a large number of horseflies. Jefferson records that "the horseflies were dexterous in finding necks, and the silk of stockings was nothing to them." All discussing was punctuated by the slap of hands on necks.

On the wall at the back, facing the president's desk, was a panoply -- consisting of a drum, swords, and banners seized from Fort Ticonderoga the previous year. Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold had captured the place, shouting that they were taking it "in the name of the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress!"

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