Independence Day 2010 Celebrated by Friends

My friends have some beautiful Independence Day posts up. Some are humorous, some are somber and question what Independence Day means these days. Social Sense speaks of the Civil War and the sacrifices Americans made to end slavery. The following are in no particular order.

Happy Independence Day 


God Bless America

Social Sense - 147 Years Ago

Talk Wisdom - God Bless the USA

The Conservative Lady - Happy Independence Day

The republican Mother - Independence Forever

Woman Honor Thyself - July 4th..Woot!

Saucy American in New Zealand - Why America Celebrates!

Right Truth - Enjoy Your Freedoms While You Have Them

Pundit and Pundette - Happy 4th

The Snooper Report - Reading the Declaration to Congress

Doug Ross - Orson Welles on Battle Hymn of Republic

Conservative Hideout - July 4, 1776

Caught Him With a Corndog - Land of the Free and the Brave

Blog@MoreWhat - Protecting the 4th of July

The Lonely Conservative - Happy Independence Day, Whatever that Means Anymore!

Always on Watch - Happy Birthday, America!

Backcountry Notes - Celebrate Independence Day

Chicago Ray - Happy 4th 

A Chicagoan's Conservative Chronicles - Happy Independence Day America

An Ol' Broad's Ramblings - Declaring Independence

Blog 4 History - Happy 4th of July Weekend

Bungalow Bill - Independence Day, Not Fourth of July

Conservative Perspective - Happy 234th Independence Day
drkatesview - Declaration of Restoration
geeeeeZ! - Sunday Faith Blot...Independence Day
Holger Awakens - The Birth of the Greatest Nation on Earth
Patriot's Corner - In Congress, July 4, 1776
Potluck - Happy 4th of July
Monkey in the Middle - 4 July: Day of Freedom
Praesidium Respublicae - Celebrating July 4th!
Mind-Numbed Robot - Fourth of July Bikini Special
Si Vis Pacem - Steven Givler: Colorist
The Camp of the Saints - July 4th Extravaganza!
Teresamerica - Changing the Tides of the Revolutionary War




My Salute to Independence Day - July 1st and 2nd, 1776 - So it Was Done, The Break was Made


The Story of the Star Spangled Banner

Philadelphia Bars ICE from Arrest Data

Philadelphia has decided to deny ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) access to their database of arrests, which includes country of origin.

Independence Hall - Philadelphia

ICE has had a year-old agreement with the city to use the police database. Philadelphia is a tad upset that ICE has actually deported persons because they are in the U.S. illegally. The city of Philadelphia is obviously breaking Federal law by knowing the person is illegal and allowing them to stay. "Human Rights" is the worry. Some of the people in the database had committed small crimes, not big ones. Helloooooo! Most of us never commit a crime in our lifetimes. How about every city across the U.S. just following the law? Let's start with Washington, D.C.

Under the agreement, ICE agents can routinely access the city's Preliminary Arraignment Reporting System (PARS). That agreement is up for renewal on Thursday.

"It is the mayor's view that the PARS agreement should not be extended," Gillison [deputy mayor] said, speaking at a South Philadelphia church meeting attended by more than 300 immigrants and their supporters

This incident was reported at a meeting called by the New Sanctuary Movement:

One man, who gave his name as Ignacio Aguirre, described the arrest of his son. He said the boy had been at the beach, where he used a knife to cut a watermelon. He put the knife into a backpack. Several days later, without thinking about it, he took the backpack to school and tripped a metal detector. It was an innocent mistake, the man said, but it resulted in a visit from ICE and house arrest with an ankle bracelet for his child. 

Is Mr. Aguirre illegal, as is his child? When you read further into the article, it is possible that at least one person on the City Council might not be re-elected if deportations of illegals continue.

Philadelphia, the city where the U.S. Constitution was born with the enormous personal sacrifice of the Founders, is today the city with the highest violent crime rate in the country.

U.S. Constitution Series: Samuel Langdon

Samuel Langdon was born on January 12, 1723 in Boston, Massachusetts. He died in Hampton, Falls, New Hampshire on November 29, 1797. Langdon was a delegate to the New Hampshire convention that adopted the Constitution of the United States.

U.S. Constitution

Langdon served 36 years as the president of Harvard University. Below his speech in the Massachusetts Legislature, read how this patriot was received by the Harvard students in the 1700's.

Regarding the responsibility of The People under the American System to be "a government of the people, by the people, and for the people."

Samuel Langdon from the floor of the Massachusetts Legislature in 1788:

On the people, therefore, of these United States, it depends whether wise men, or fools, good or bad men, shall govern....

Therefore, I will now lift up my voice and cry aloud to the people....

From year to year be careful in the choice of your representatives and the higher powers [offices] of government. Fix your eyes upon men of good understanding and known honesty; men of knowledge, improved by experience; men who fear God and hate covetousness; who love truth and righteousness, and sincerely wish for the public welfare....

Let not men openly irreligious and immoral become your legislators....If the legislative body are corrupt, you will soon have bad men for counselors, corrupt judges, unqualified justices, and officers in every department who will dishonor their stations....

Never give countenance to turbulent men, who wish to distinguish themselves and rise to power by forming combinations and exciting insurrections against government....

I call upon you also to support schools in your towns....It is a debt you owe to to your children.

Langdon was considered a distinguished scholar and theologian, receiving a Doctor of Divinity from the University of Aberdeen in 1762. Langdon was one of the first members of the American Academy of Arts and Scientists.

Langdon graduated Harvard in 1740, along with classmate Samuel Adams, and was ordained as pastor in 1747 of the North Church of Portsmouth. He left the clergy in 1744 to become the president of Harvard University, resigning the Harvard presidency after 36 years, in 1780. Within the year, Samuel Langdon became the pastor of the Congregational church in Hampton Falls, New Hampshire.

A biographical note from Frank Moore:

"Langdon called for limited government and the removal of corrupt government officials. Most importantly, Langdon called for the nation to return to the true principles of Christianity and the morality of the Ten Commandments. It was the abandonment of true Christianity, Langdon said, that caused the British government to be the way it was in 1775. "

Mr. Moore describes Langdon as "a very zealous Whig," and says that during Langdon's tenure as the president of Harvard:

"He did not receive that respect and kindness from the students and others connected with the college, that were due his character as a scholar and a Christian. Under these circumstances he resigned the presidency...."

Along with Langdon, Abraham Lincoln was a member of the Whig party in Illinois.