Remember The Fourth of July

My human says that we live in a ‘red county’ but that it means little anymore.  She’s pretty peeved right now that there are no Fourth of July celebrations planned.  No parade, no fireworks display, no live bands playing patriotic music…nothing, nada, zilch!  Yep, the Ponytail Patriot is fired up about it.

Even I, a mere canine, know how lucky we are to live in America.  So why aren’t we celebrating the birthday of our beloved country.  It’s because the politicians in control don’t want to offend illegal aliens or ethnicities that are living here.  That’s right, I said it.  The few and illegal are dictating to the rest what we will and will not celebrate.  Oh, they use the excuse that it’s because it’s during the middle of the week but I’m not buying it.  They could do like other communities and have their celebrations on the weekend before or after!  Conservative and Liberals alike are too afraid of offending a potential voter to do the right thing.

That is why we have to be diligent in vetting our candidates for all levels of elected government.  We must know that they will stand up for what is right.  Just like Candi must be diligent in her surroundings to avoid an outbreak of poison ivy (she has it pretty bad right now).  It is not enough to know WHAT they stand for.  We must know that they WILL stand.  And “We the people” must demand that the hold the ground on our behalf once we have elected them to office.

This Fourth of July, our town will have no parade.  We will have no fireworks.  We will have no celebration of Independence and the birth of this great nation that was founded on FREEDOM.  This is unacceptable in this canine’s eyes and something that I cannot permit to happen again.  Regardless of what day of the week it falls on, or who might be offended (they are free to leave if they don’t like it here) the birth of America should be celebrated!

We are going to celebrate in our own way.  It will include patriotic movies (most of them from the 40’s), Candi will be going to the pool for a bit and blasting Madison Rising’s version of The Star Spangled Banner (yes, she’s taking speakers so everyone can enjoy it), and a walk.  She’ll probably make us some hotdogs too.  Ok…so the hotdogs are my favorite part of the holiday, but it’s the only day she lets me have one.  I hope that each of you will find a way to celebrate and honor what our Founding Fathers intended.  Whether you have the traditional celebrations in your town or not, please don’t forget to honor their vision.  Have a safe and happy Fourth of July.  God Bless America!

Fall Holidays Not PC Enough...Oh, Jeez!

Sometimes liberals just get too ridiculous for words.  This is NOT one of those times.  Seriously people, let's not celebrate Columbus Day, Thanksgiving and for heaven's sake don't let your children dress up as their favorite cartoon character for Halloween.  Really? Candi and I were not actually surprised by this, but we were disappointed to see another school system going overboard in the PC department.

I did ask Candi what the big deal is about these particular holidays.  She explained that Columbus Day and Thanksgiving seem to be insensitive to native American's because the Europeans didn't treat them very well.  But here's the thing that no one seems to consider...native Americans weren't totally innocent either!  Let's look at the holidays mentioned one at a time, shall we?

One, Columbus discovered the Americas.  No one is really sure if he landed in North or South America the first time or if he truly is the first European to step on the soil of the "New World".  What we do know for certain is that he is credited with it.  So, in our very humble opinion, give the man credit for having the gumption to make a dangerous journey and discovering this wonderful new land.  We understand that Europeans settling in the new world did not always get along with the indigenous peoples here, but they were far from being the only guilty party.  Our history tells us that many Native Americans attacked settlers without provocation.  Just saying...there are always two sides to every story and both need to be considered equally.

Two, Thanksgiving.  For some reason this holiday seems to truly upset liberals and for the life of me, I can't figure out why.  When you look at the history of the holiday, isn't it a celebration of the cooperation between Native Americans and settlers?  Yes, there were atrocities later and the Europeans did bring disease that hadn't been here, but the holiday itself represents what can be accomplished with understanding and a willingness to cooperate.  So...get over it people!  Celebrate the spirit of the holiday and try to open your minds and hearts.  Maybe, just maybe, then you will realize that working together gets a person farther than going it alone!

Last, Halloween.  Now this one upset Candi big time.  Apparently this school principal told the teachers to ask children not to dress up.  Her response was somewhat humorous to me.  She said, "Shasta, this is absolutely over the top!  It's Halloween.  It's a fun thing for children to dress up and walk around saying trick or treat.  But because a child might dress up as something someone else finds offensive, none get to dress up.  Jeez...they are children and most of them don't even understand political correctness.  Most will go as their favorite Disney princess or cartoon character.  What is wrong with this principal that she would deny school children a little fun once a year?"  AND, Candi informed me that this particular holiday has always been offensive to some people and religious organizations.  So what is the big deal?  C'mon...don't take away the kiddie's fun just because you don't like it.  That's just mean!

Here is our point: Americans have gotten so concerned that they MIGHT upset someone that they don't want to celebrate anything.  They want to take away anything that may or may not represent more than one point of view.  No one is saying everyone has to celebrate, but don't try to punish everyone.  If you don't like the holiday...call in sick and stay home, but for Pete's sake...let the rest of us enjoy it!

This is the link to the story:
http://www.myfoxboston.com/dpp/news/local/somerville-principal-fall-holidays-are-insensitive-20111014#ixzz1bBwoFPUW