THE SHALLOWS: DON'T EAT ANOTHER PEEP UNTIL YOU READ THIS POST (...

THE SHALLOWS: DON'T EAT ANOTHER PEEP UNTIL YOU READ THIS POST (...: Marshmallow Peeps. You know 'em, and if you have any sense at all, you loathe them with every fiber of your being. What am I tal...

HAPPY JULY 4TH!

                                         Thomas Jefferson, April 13, 1743--July 4, 1826


Thank you, Tom!

REASONS FOR A REVOLUTION

 Well, here it is...Fourth of July time again. Time to get out the ol' red, white and blue bunting and drape it over the window sill. To fire up that barbecue grill you bought on sale at Wal-Mart last fall and cook up a slew of hamburgers and hot dogs for friends and neighbors and wash it all down with a few cold beers. Maybe you'll take the kids to watch the local fireworks display after the sun goes down. Or maybe there'll even be a parade on the main street of your town in honor of the day on which the Declaration of Independence was signed. Yup, it's time for all those things. It's the Fourth of July. Again. 2014.

But you know what else it's time for? It's time to wake up and realize that in the 238 years since Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration Of Independence and he and fifty-four other brave Colonists attached their signatures to it, this country has come dangerously close to returning to the very same situation that drove the founding fathers to demand freedom from the oppressive forces that were crippling and demeaning their hopes and dreams and aspirations. Think I'm overstating things a bit? Fine. But before you take that thought to the bank, think about the following...

In writing the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson gave four good reasons underscoring the need for a revolution. The first was his concern that freedom of religion might be compromised by the continued authority of the Church of England. Because the King was the official head of the Church, Jefferson and the other colonists who signed the Declaration feared that they would eventually be forced to adhere to the rules and stipulations of what was, in essence, a state religion. Perhaps you're thinking...well, so what? Fear of an unjustly imposed state religion might have been a valid concern back in 1776, but no one's trying to impose anything like that on the citizens of this country now. But hold on a minute. Think about it. Is that really true? The current Obama-led administration may not be trying to force Americans to join a specific religion, but is its fervor to dismiss the idea that a belief in a Judeo-Christian God is at the core of our country's constitutional make-up really so very different? The Obama administration has shown time and time again its willingness to bend over backwards to accommodate the religious beliefs of Muslim immigrants while at the same time doing its best to marginalize and even nullify the Christian beliefs of other Americans. You need space in a public building to roll out your prayer rug and honor Allah? No problem! But try hanging a cross on the wall of your office in that same building or setting up a nativity scene at Christmas. I daresay you won't exactly find it easy going. So, no...maybe there is no plan to institute a state religion in this country. But the fact that many Americans are not free to display in public the images of their chosen belief system is religious oppression all the same.

The second reason given in the Declaration for the need for rebellion was the King's insistence on disregarding the authority of colonial legislatures and inserting his own officers into positions of authority. Do I even have to name names here? Never has an American president exhibited so little regard for states' rights or the other two branches of government when it comes to making decisions that affect the lives of this country's citizens. Hell, who needs to consult Congress when you've got "a phone and a pen" handy? And don't even get me started on the secretive machinations that have characterized this administration from its outset. Lies, twisted truths, doubletalk...and that's just the stuff we know about! The sweeping influx of illegal immigrants into this country over the last month is only one of the many, many symptoms of a lawless, unrepentant presidential regime that makes its own rules and a Congress more interested in preserving its own incumbency than in protecting and preserving this country's borders and way of life.

The third reason that Jefferson gave for rebellion was the Crown's bought and paid for judiciary system. Is it really so hard to see the correlation with this one when it comes to the way that Obama has set up the current court system? Partisan in the extreme, the officials in the current American court system are often the recipients of appointments and promotions bestowed upon them by our would-be king, Mr. Obama.

The fourth reason for rebellion is a whopper...and scarily close to what is happening in this country today. The founding fathers did not want the King's standing army to be part of the colonial landscape. Tired of British soldiers and foreign mercenaries being used to enforce the King's illegal laws, they demanded an end to their presence within this country's borders. Don't we need to do that now? Am I the only American upset and angry over the fact that Obama regularly employs his own people to enforce his illegal laws? Congressmen and women have been turned away when they have attempted to gain entrance into the border holding centers where the illegal immigrants are being housed and fed at the expense of taxpayers. Doctors are threatened with arrest if they discuss the situation with reporters. Apparently, in the current administration, the only rules and rights that matter are the ones that benefit Obama and his cronies...not the ones that were written into the Constitution to ensure the rights and privileges of the American people.

So, what's the answer? Another revolution? I don't know, but it sure as hell is time to at least think about the reasons that we celebrate the Fourth of July in the first place. And maybe...just maybe....while you're washing down that hamburger with a cold beer...to read the Declaration of Independence.

TAKING BACK MY AMERICAN LAWN!

 Okay, here it is...the very first post from my new American Lawn Party! blog. So, what's it all about, you're probably wondering. Is it a blog dedicated to the art of hosting summer lawn parties? And what's with the picture of a decrepit lawn chair under the title? It all seems so bleak. Perhaps if I posted a recipe for Margarita pie, it would offset the fact that there's a toilet behind the lawn chair....

Those are all very good questions, my friend. Perfectly reasonable comments (except the last one, which is just stupid). But here's where I do my best to explain. Ready? Let's scroll!

I am a 55-year-old woman who grew up in an incredibly unique, wondrous and exceptional country called the United States of America. Even as a little girl back in the sixties, I was aware of the place my country held in the pantheon of world nations. I realized that, like every country on the planet, America had its flaws, its hypocrisies, its inconsistancies. I understood that the "inalienable rights" cited in the Declaration of Independence were theoretical, and that "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" came easier to some people than to others. And even though many adults made a point of telling me that I could grow up to be anything I wanted, I knew that it wasn't a given, and that for every American success story, there was one of failure and disappointment, too. But the thing was...it was still America! Men and women fought and died to make it America. Millions more risked life and limb to leave their own oppressive homelands behind and begin new lives in the one country on earth in which they were officially guaranteed the chance to at least try.

Remember this? If Obama's administration is synonymous with "hope", I'd hate to see their take on "despair"!

 But, see, it's all different now.  Six years ago, the American people elected a president who represented many firsts for this great nation. Barack Obama was, of course, the first African American to be elected  to the office of President of the United States. As the granddaughter of a black man, I couldn't help feeling proud and even a little sentimental over the fact that, once again, America had shown itself to be a leader among nations. Unfortunately, that initial burst of national pride wore off pretty quickly as all the other Obama "firsts" began to float to the surface of an increasingly murky political cesspool. Not only did Obama turn out to be the first black American president, he has since stepped forward to become the first American Apologist president, the first American president who cannot prove that he was born in this country, the first American president to possess so little regard for the country that he only nominally grew up in that he thinks nothing of arbitrarily rewriting laws, disregarding the Constitution and lying to the American people about everything from healthcare to making deals with the Taliban. Hell, in retrospect, Richard Nixon looks like a saint, and the only two American presidents to have ever been impeached...Andrew Jackson and Bill Clinton...seem to have really ended up with the fuzzy end of the political lollipop. I mean, Clinton got his rocks off and lied about it. Voila! He gets impeached. Obama pushed forward an illegal healthcare bill, violated the War Powers Act and refuses to enforce Federal immigration laws. What happens? He wins a Nobel Peace Prize and does a girly work-out at the gym.

This is what happens when you stop believing in something. It just fades away.....

I'm no political pundit. I'm just a writer who happens to remember what it was like growing up in America before Obama and his czar/thugs got hold of it. Before they started trying to turn it into their own little monochromatic serfdom filled with soulless worker bees too weary and disheartened to even put up a fight as Obama and his imperialist lackeys continue to systematically strip away our rights and marginalize our dreams. I remember summer nights on the little working class street where I grew up, and how my grandparents, my mother, and my brother and I would sit in the backyard,  our bare arms and legs  protected from mosquito bites by little green coils spewing citronella smoke, and that night's baseball game playing on the car radio several yards away. We didn't have much back then. Just that little house and accompanying patch of lawn. But it was our American lawn party. Now...all these years later...in Obamaland...all I can offer you is this blog. But I hope you'll come back. There's still so much to say.