Happy Independance Day

I truly love the 4th of July, the day which we celebrate our country's forefathers signing the Declaration of Independence in 1776. Do not confuse the Declaration with the Constitution which frames our form of democracy and was drafted in 1787 and by the way, I carry a copy of in my bible.

The Declaration has three parts; the first discussing the rights of all men to be free and the legitmacy to revote against oppression, the second part a set of specific grievances the 13 colonies had against King George III and finally a claim of independence. I would like you to take the time today and read or scan just a bit of it.

So today while your eating your hot dogs, having a beer, sampling mom's hot apple pie and hopefully sharing the day with people you love and respect, take a moment and thank your god that America was created. The greatest nation on this great earth.

This video, my first YouTube, by the way, was taken by a spectator at last years Gasworks show in Seattle Washington. I used to go to this every year. In the beginning I would sit on the hill of Gasworks park with tens of thousands of others and watch the show. As I got older a friends father lived on a massive boat moored at the end of a dock a few hundred yards away. So close that the debris from the rockets would land on us. The last few years I lived in Seattle, I and some friends would kayak to just beneath the barge as close as we could get. This is the closest I have come to a fireworks show in almost ten years, watching it on tv or computer feed. There are many shows of low caliber around town at churches and ballparks, a few big ones such as at Tempe Town Lake (IMAZ site) where my company actually hosts the main stage for musical acts, but too crowded, too hot.

Sit back and enjoy the show.