Wednesday :: 10 March 2010 :: 05:02 PM
290 days to Christmas!
Read The Blog at Judicial Forum.
Fourth Of July Fact
Why do we celebrate Independence Day on July 4?
All kinds of history books and reference books will explain that the federal holiday celebrates the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, declaring our independence from Great Britain. However, while that day is celebrated as the day of independence, it really is not. Our nation officially became independent on Sept. 3, 1783, when the British King George III and the American leaders signed the Treaty of Paris.
-- from Land Line magazine, published by OOIDA. July 2007 page 106.
This next commentary is from the same magazine and page. It is an excerpt from an article by Pete Rigney, the Silver Fox:
". . . Every time I read the original document [Ed - Declaration of Independence], I get goose bumps. I think about a little remembered delegate named Richard Henry Lee, a farmer from Westmoreland County, VA. Lee took on the whole British Empire when he introduced a motion that declared we were free from all allegiance to the British Crown on June 7, 1776. Talk about guts!
"John Adams seconded the motion. Thomas Jefferson penned the first draft based on Lee's outline. Ben Franklin and Adams made a few more changes and we were on our way with the noble experiment. Eventually we would become the most powerful nation in the world.
"Thank you, Richard Henry Lee. Thank you, signers who put it on the line for all of us. . ."
Random Humor: The Difference Between Hymns And Praise Choruses
HERE ARE BOTH SIDES OF THE STORY!
An old farmer went to the city one weekend and attended the big city church. He came home and his wife asked him how it was.
"Well," said the farmer, "It was good. They did something different, however. They sang praise choruses instead of hymns."
"Praise choruses?" said his wife, "What are those?"
"Oh, they're okay. They're sort of like hymns, only different," said the farmer.
"Well, what's the difference?" asked his wife.
The farmer said, "Well it's like this - If I were to say to you: 'Martha, the cows are in the corn,' well that would be a hymn.
If, on the other hand, I were to say to you: 'Martha Martha, Martha, Oh, Martha, MARTHA, MARTHA, the cows, the big cows, the brown cows, the black cows, the white cows, the black and white cows, the COWS, COWS, COWS are in the corn, are in the corn, are in the corn, are in the corn, the CORN, CORN, CORN' -- well, that would be a praise chorus."
NOW, THE REBUTTAL, SO TO SPEAK:
A young Christian went to his local church usually, but one weekend attended a small town church. He came home and his wife asked him how it was.
"Well," said the young man, "It was good. They did something different, however. They sang hymns instead of regular songs."
"Hymns," said his wife, "What are those?"
"Oh, they're okay. They're sort of like regular songs, only different," said the young man.
"Well, what's the difference?" asked his wife.
The young man said, "Well it's like this: If I were to say to you, 'Martha, the cows are in the corn,' well that would be a regular song. If, on the other hand, I were to say to you:
'Oh Martha, dear Martha, hear thou my cry;
'Inclinest thine ear to the words of my mouth.
'Turn thou thy whole wondrous ear by and by
'To the righteous, inimitable, glorious truth.
'For the way of the animals who can explain
'There in their heads is no shadow of sense,
'Harkenest they in God's sun or his rain unless
'From the mild, tempting corn they are fenced.
'Yea those cows in glad bovine, rebellious delight,
'Have broke free their shackles, their warm pens eschewed.
'Then goaded by minions of darkness and night;
'They all my mild Chilliwack sweet corn have chewed.
'So look to that bright shining day by and by,
'Where all foul corruptions of earth are reborn.
'Where no vicious animal makes my soul cry
'And I no longer see those foul cows in the corn.'
"Then, if I were to do only verses one, three and four and do a key change on the last verse, well that would be a hymn."