Update: Ed makes us see stars. See below the “continue reading” line.
I slept so late today recovering from my jet lag I almost forgot to place my flag outside.
Flying to Australia and traversing the country, gives me an appreciation for liberty no matter what hemisphere you reside in. Aussies have made many contributions to freedom, such as I witnessed with this WWI war memorial in Emerald, QLD:
There is also a WWII memorial just to the right of the photo. Aussies have been side by side with the USA in every world conflict. They are owed thanks on this day as well.
As the founders of our country declared in this document:
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.
The Declaration justified the independence of the United States by listing colonial grievances against King George III, and by asserting certain natural rights, including a right of revolution.
Like with the colonists, with this blog, the readers, and the publications, I often assert my right of revolution against unreasonable acts of taxation, such as Kerry’s cap and trade bill.
Today, once again Ed Darrell and I are in agreement, and I particularly like the flag on the moon he chose. It is depressing that President Obama has proposed killing the next step in the manned space program, Aries.
So today, take a cue from myself and Ed, no matter whether you are a free market optimist or a tax happy sourpuss, fly your flag. Later today, I’m going to pursue some life, liberty, and happiness, you should too.
UPDATE: Speaking of Ed Darrell and Australians, perhaps some of our readers “down under” might like to educate Ed as to what the 5 stars mean in the logo for the AU Climate Skeptics Party.
I laughed out loud when I read this from Ed’s blog. Not only does he misappropriate the source of the logo, even though all he had to do was click the image on WUWT, he also seems to have no clue as to the reference to why the stars of the “southern cross” is a symbol of Australia. After learning about it with the help of some WUWT commenters, perhaps he’ll make a lesson plan of it for his students.
From Ed’s blog:
==================================
That may explain why Anthony Watts’ logo for his Australian tour shows a kangaroo whose rear end has just been kicked (you can tell by the stars).
In cartoons, stars show where a character has been punched or kicked, right?
No agreement to control greenhouse gases came out of the Copenhagen conference last fall. So-called climate skeptics patted each other on the back, claimed victory, and proceeded to send Christopher Monckton on his Bonnie Lies All Around the World Tour. In cool light of morning, however, the facts can’t be silenced: Warming continues, science shows the extremely high probability that humans cause it, official investigations show that climate scientists who had their e-mails stolen were victims of crime, not perpetrators, and climate skeptics failed to stop warming with their big-dollar, nice-banquet meetings with the Heartland Institute, or anywhere else.
If they are skeptics, they are pretty bad at it, falling like chumps for a story that fourth-grade science project made the case they have failed to make everywhere else, and for the story that one of their comrades was sent a bomb in the mail (it turned out to be a misdirected fuel filter).
No wonder Americans remain concerned about warming.
=======================================
The Southern Cross stars with a boxing kangaroo is a common design in Australia. This car decal for example:
http://beaututes.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=153&products_id=934
or this t-shirt
http://www.gooses.com.au/categories.asp?cID=32&c=55834
or this flag:
http://www.1uptravel.com/flag/flags/au-kang.html
BTW here’s the update on the bomb scare story, it also fooled a journalist and a terrorism expert. In fact, suspicious packages are cause for alarm every day around the world, and often get misidentified (and often blown up) by professional people erring on the side of caution. Here’s a few examples: 1 2 3 4 5 and even in Ed’s home state of Texas they react to suspicious packages the same way. It’s hard to be skeptical when you risk life and limb to find out. Sheesh Ed.
Heh, “big dollar nice banquet meeting”. The once a year meeting not using a dime of taxpayer money, totally privately funded, and yes, no big oil either. I guess he’s still sore for not getting invited to the IPCC meeting in Bali. Ed’s a slippery sort of bloke, so he’ll probably try to claim post facto that it was humor, or that we misinterpreted his reference to the 5 stars. Give him no quarter.
And let’s not forget that while Bush wasn’t 100% innocent in his Presidency, the day our forces invaded Baghdad there were a number of Iraqi people, all former soldiers or advisors, who were found hanging from meat hooks in the torture room across the street from the palace.
Let’s not forget about the French that had been tortured by the German’s before we came and liberated France (at the tune of 630,000 American men burried in French cemeteries).
You want to mock my country? Swallow a little of our history first. What the majority of the nations in this world have, is owed to America.
I think Anthony should close the comments on this thread before one more person mocks this country and I go nuts.
REPLY: if you do, go nuts someplace else. -A
God Bless the United States of America. I’m a Canadian and deeply admire your Constitution, your generosity, and your patriotism. There is no country, a Republic, as blessed as yours—please fight to preserve what your founders laid down. It is a beacon of hope for the world, and not the kind of “hopey-changey” rubbish that is so fashionable in Washington right now. .
Sean Peake,
God Bless Canada. Hosers are the best!
I was taught (probably as a Boy Scout) that flag etiquette required that The Flag be brought in at dusk, and not flown overnight. It was also not supposed to be flown in the rain, nor allowed to touch the ground. Have all those rules gone by the board?
But I’m glad to see that pride in this exceptional nation, “the last best hope of man on Earth” (Ronald Reagan), has not been abandoned here, at least.
Most of those who enjoy a measure of freedom in the world today do so in large part because The United States of America has been the bulwark of liberty against the forces of tyranny and oppression that raged across the globe over the previous century. And you can be sure that if we in the USA fall prey to the insidious lure of statism under the guise of a specious ‘equality’, the rest of the free world will soon follow suit.
/Mr Lynn
Mark Bowlin says “During my 20 years in the US Navy, I learned the criteria for trustworthy allies: English as a first language; contact sports; beer as the national drink. The Aussies are three for three.”
Mark don’t forget to look north. Contact sports, who got beat in olympic hockey? Who is your countries biggest trading partner? Who is your countries biggest single energy supplier?
I am thankful for the United States and its freedoms to produce such innovative people such as the likes of Al Gore, who invented the Internet, so that I can have access to information such as this web site that offers other information rather than the biased left of center news coverage from national broadcasters such as the CBC and CTV.
But realistically, if the USA did not leave the British system, it might be more like Canada, but with 10 times the population. It might even be Canada, but spread across the whole North American continent. (Sorry Mexico).
Hu McCulloch says:
July 4, 2010 at 2:42 pm
What’s the big star under the Union Jack? Alpha Centauri?
Well, if you must see it that way, no, it is not. It is Beta Centauri.
As for the imaginative interpretation of the stars by Ed (that of representing the boxing kangaroo getting kicked in the butt), the idea might have more than a few Aussie cartoonists salivating profusely if they haven’t already been there, done that. Except that they’d place the stars under the tail where kangaroo butts are usually located, not over it.
As a boy I remember US carriers (USS Enterprise is one) calling into Sydney Harbour and needing to anchor mid-stream and swing 360deg. they were so large. They were nuclear powered, and, because of this, unable to stay over in New Zealand.
Your sailors were welcome then as they were when they were enjoying R&R in King’s Cross in Sydney during the Vietnam war. Just watched a moving story about fighting in WW II ,moving from the Kokoda track (trail) to the north coast of New Guinea, once again fighting for freedom, Aussies and Americans together!
We have much in common.
Happy 4th of July ! you have much to celebrate.
@ur momisugly Robert Morris, July 4, 2010 at 7:55 pm
Sir,
I speak from personal experience when I state the the flying of the English flag and the Union Standard is viewed as “offensive” here in England.
Last year I was told by a visiting Council official that the flagstaff from which I was flying the Union Standard on Her Majesty’s (official) birthday required planning permission and, as I did not have this, the flagstaff had to be dismantled forthwith.
I was also informed that the display of the Union Standard in such a fashion was viewed as “provocative” and was not permitted.
On October 24th last year I again erected the flagstaff and flew the Zambian flag to mark the Zambian Independence day. No visit by any official was made and no comment was forthcoming.
But realistically, if the USA did not leave the British system, it might be more like Canada, but with 10 times the population. It might even be Canada, but spread across the whole North American continent. (Sorry Mexico).
But that would make international hockey boring. We got it good the way it is. Did you see the Washington fireworks – made in China. YES. I know the Chinese invented fireworks but.
We need to get out from under the economic thrall of those communist thugs, and that sort of symbolism just brings it to a finer point.
People of nations shouldn’t be stained by the misdeeds and incompetence of their “leaders”. A flag carries those stains as well but on a national day, one looks only upon the worthy ideals that it represents; as a mark of respect to the founders and those who built the nation in the pursuit of those ideals.
All free nations suffer from the consequences of common human attributes such as greed, laziness and apathy. Apathy rules. People are so consumed by the trivial and mundane that they do not pay attention to what’s going on outside of their immediate world. Only when it hits them hard will they complain, whine and seek compensation simply because they felt it more important to watch Wife Swap USA than to pay attention to the hogwash salesmen, think and to vote accordingly.
The apathy allows free nations to become subservient to a corrupt elite. All organizations tend to support themselves before those who they are supposed to serve.
Anthony gets to the crux of the matter in his statement about a right to revolution. Democracy provides a mechanism for revolution; but it only works when apathy is practiced by a minority; the electorate are knowledgable and the candidates, if not competent, are at least honest and honourable.
Uphold the revolution.
Wave your flag knowing that it represents a struggle for freedom and fairness. Not only in the USA.
Mark Bowlin says “During my 20 years in the US Navy, I learned the criteria for trustworthy allies: English as a first language; contact sports; beer as the national drink. The Aussies are three for three.”
There are six countries in the world, only six, that have been democracies for at least the last 100 years. USA, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Britain are five of them. Are we detecting a theme here? The sixth is Sweden – thanks to neutrality during WW2 – and being a noncombatant.
For myself, I have a British passport and an Aussie passport, and lived for six years in the USA with my American wife, so I don’t know who the hell I’m rooting for. But have a happy birthday USA, we wouldn’t be here without you. Seriously.
We all have good reason to be proud, USA, UK, Ca, Au, Nz and more. We’ve all banded together to fight tyranny at various times. The US even repaid our debt to France for funding our silly quest for freedom (don’t count on our ability to do that again).
The ideals of Democracy may have surfaced more rebelliously in the US first but they exist globally. Any country that celebrates their annual remembrance of freedom should be allowed, for one day, to do a happy dance and just be insufferably smug: Wave their flag, overcook meat on the grill, and argue about what is football and who is doing it wrong. In the US on the 4th of July, its our day. In less than a year you will have your day of celebration of democracy (unless thats not allowed).
The current Australian flag is a result of a competition held in Victoria. The review of Review for Australiasia, a Melbourne journal, had initiated an Australian flag competition in 1900, The Commonwealth Government and the Review of Reviews for Australasia provided ₤75 each and the Havelock Tobacco Company added ₤50.
So, the flag is a result of smoko, and a competition.
When are our American mates going to ditch that pommie system of weights and measures that even the Brits dropped for a French system of all things!
Just asking, is all….
I’m another 24/7/365 Flag Waver. She comes in for storms, but the porch light keeps her illuminated out there most every other night.
I re-read the Declaration of Independence this morning. Later I retold the meaning of today’s holiday (as best I could) to my 7 year old with my 4 year old on my lap. And you know what, they got it! Of course it was nuanced in the form of an evil King who took our money and didn’t listen to what we wanted or needed, but having just read the document it was quite accurate (at least in intention). My intention being to convey to them that “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”.
Anyway, I hope that similar events happened all over the country today; planting the seeds of the ideals of freedom and how important that idea is to us all. We should never forget how special the USA truly is. All nations and peoples should be proud, but today is our day.
Happy Independence Day!
PS- And, Yes NC, Canada is the best neighbor any country could ask for.
Stephen Brown, July 4, 2010 at 10:57 pm
You seem to be conflating planning permission requirements with “PC” objections. As for your official telling you a flag was offensive, call me cynical but I would love to see that go to court.
Bulldust says:
July 5, 2010 at 12:30 am
When are our American mates going to ditch that pommie system of weights and measures that even the Brits dropped for a French system of all things!
You ask somebody on the street, “What’s a meter?” they’re going to give you a funny look. Why? Because nobody without a measuring stick knows.
But if you ask the same person “What’s a foot?” they can show you. Most people have two of them handy!
Reading the above comments reminds me, once again, that Britain and her former colonies are like a family of boisterous teenagers – cheerfully trading thumps and insults with one another all day long, but when it matters we’re all on the same side. Long may it continue.
Papertiger:
“Most people have two of them handy!”
Did you know that the average person has fewer than two feet?
“Poor old GIIIR” was really a “constitutional monarch” and mad and not even functioning in his restricted role a good part of the time. You must blame the Prime Ministers and their parties. But look at it this way, without late 18thC politics and attitudes being so “colonial”, there would be no USA!
As mentioned you would be a Canada or an Australia -its all a matter of timing and spread of the enlightenment.
That same enlightenment which promoted the alleged age of reason (and science).
And today’s Counter-Enlightenment and today’s age of non-reason and post science.
“It’s the Soldier”
By: Charles M. Province
A protest raged on a courthouse lawn,
Round a makeshift stage they charged on,
Fifteen hundred or more they say,
Had come to burn a Flag that day.
A boy held up the folded Flag,
Cursed it, and called it a dirty rag.
An OLD MAN pushed through the angry crowd,
With a rusty shotgun shouldered proud.
His uniform jacket was old and tight,
He had polished each button, shiny and bright.
He crossed that stage with a soldier’s grace,
Until he and the boy stood face to face.
“FREEDOM OF SPEECH”, the OLD MAN said,
“Is worth dying for, good men are dead,
So you can stand on this courthouse lawn,
And talk us down from dusk to dawn,
But before any Flag gets burned today,
This OLD MAN IS GOING TO HAVE HIS SAY!!
My father died on a foreign shore,
In a war they said would end all war.
But Tommy and I wasn’t even full grown,
Before we fought in a war of our own.
And Tommy died on Iwo Jima’s beach,
In the shadow of a hill he couldn’t quite reach
Where five good men raised this Flag so high,
That the WHOLE WORLD COULD SEE IT FLY.
I got this bum leg that I still drag,
Fighting for this same old Flag.
Now there’s but one shot in this old gun,
So now it’s time to decide which one,
Which one of you will follow our lead,
To stand and die for what you believe?
For as sure as there is a rising sun,
You’ll burn before this Flag burns, son.
Now this riot never came to pass.
The crowd got quiet and that can of gas,
Got set aside as they walked away
To talk about what they had heard this day.
And the boy who had called it a “dirty rag”,
Handed the OLD SOLDIER the folded Flag.
So the battle of the Flag this day was won
By a tired OLD SOLDIER with a rusty gun,
Who for one last time, had to show to some,
THIS FLAG MAY FADE, YET THESE COLORS DON’T RUN
The history behind writing this:-
http://pattonhq.com/speech.html
And Patrick Davis and Michael Lewis ………
http://www.diggerhistory.info/pages-flags/red_ensign.htm
Bulldust,
The French system defies all logic and is unconnected to realism, a full analysis of the imperial system of measure shows it uses the same mathematical system as modern computer language. Odd that Hmmm. As a senior citizen of Oz I have seen the dumbing down of our children using the metric system. In my youth I read a book called “Thanks to the Yanks” a far cry from the revisionist history propounded by the left. Truth is such a wonderful gift and my thanks to America are continuos. In our very early days as a penal colony when starvation seemed inevitable, Yankee trading ships arrived at the end of the world and helped save us poor convicts.
In preceding years these naughty traders liberated some of our convicts, mainly Irish transported to Oz, mainly because they were Irish so they were naughty. These Irish were part of your early America and, no doubt were fearsome anti English.
Many Americans came to Australia from the gold fields of California when gold was discovered in OZ. Many Americans were prominent in our early governments one in particular organised trade exchange and banking in my home town Melbourne and caused it to prosper. The mentioned Eureka stockade tax revolt was organised by an American. We have much to thank you for. WW1 was not much fun, with English generals killing everyone. We revolted and our troops were put under command of our generals. We were given a line to hold, the Germans made a huge push breaking the English and French lines, and were in retreat. Australian troops faced 1.5 million Germans, around thirty thousand of us. As the English and French retreated our general dug in and called to line all troops on leave in Paris. The American boys arriving late in the war asked our men were they were going. They were keen to join the battle. They were told not possible unless you wear one of our hats, most of our men went without hats, the bloody yanks took them.
Needless to say we stopped the germans in their tracks and then chased them, that was the turning point of the first world war. A few ozzies and cowboys taught them how to fight. This reality of history is buried in the formal history. The locals do not forget, for many schools in this part of France fly the OZ flag every day. Many who fought and died were American, some what AWOL, wearing OZ hats.
With all your faults America is a beacon of hope for untold millions, many parties are held in OZ on the 4TH of JULY.
And more Aussie tales on Raising the Flag
Our men, Thomas Derrick, Reg Saunders and so, so many others fought in the north and the south
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Derrick and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reg_Saunders
An account
http://www.lancers.org.au/site/Sattleberg.asp