Happy Independence Day!

This picture was taken, a few years ago, from the Memorial above the Arizona wreckage

in Oahu, Hawaii.

He that would make his own liberty secure,

must guard even his enemy from opposition;

for if he violates this duty

he establishes a precedent 

that will reach himself.

~ Thomas Paine

Wow. How's that for a quote.

You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence 

every July 4, not with a parade of guns,

tanks and soldiers who file 

by the White House in a show of strength and muscle,

but with family picnics 

where kids throw Frisbees,

the potato salad get iffy,

and the flies die from happiness.

You may think you have overeaten,

but it is patriotism.

~Erma Bombeck

Another great quote by the beloved Erma. She was brilliant 

in so many ways.

Those who won our independence

believed liberty to be the secret of happiness

and courage to be the secret of liberty.

~Louis D. Brandeis

We on this continent should never forget

that men first crossed the Atlantic

not to find soil for their ploughs

but to secure liberty for their souls.

~Robert J. McCracken

It is the love of country that has lighted

and that keeps glowing the holy fire

of patriotism.

~J. Horace McFarland

From every mountain side

Let Freedom ring.

~Samuel F. Smith, "America"