But how should Americans who take seriously the promise of a revolution -- "that all men (and women) are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with inalienable rights" and "that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among these men (and women), deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed" -- go about celebrating this Fourth of July?
George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, as definitional a pair of summer soldiers as ever will be found, can lead their sunshine patriots in celebrations of imperialistic conquest and their allegiance with Tony Blair and what remains of the tattered British realm. The sons and daughters of Tom Paine will stand this Fourth of July and honor the revolutionary spirit that revolted against the corruptions of empire.

History Repeats Itself, Only Faster
Mr. Bush’s war in Iraq is looking more and more like Vietnam in fast forward. American G.I.s are telling reporters that the war is pointless, that they feel misused and betrayed.

He said, well I think I'm getting out of this business anyway. And I don't really like it that much. So I'm probably going to resign from the board.

The beauty of anti-communism as a covering ideology was that it could serve to justify a wide variety of politically expedient actions both here and abroad. The Commies, you'll recall, were everywhere: not just in Moscow and Sevastopol, but maybe in Minneapolis and San Francisco. We had to stay alert; we could never let down our guard, anywhere.

As the New York Times reported on May 5, "The Justice Department has begun using its expanded counterterrorism powers to seize millions of dollars from foreign banks that do business in the United States" and "most of the seizures have involved fraud and money-laundering investigations unrelated to terrorism."

Asked whether he would voice his concerns to Mr Bush during his visit, Mr Mandela replied: "Do not assume that he will meet with me," in what was taken as a snub addressed to the US President. Apparently, Mr Bush will not easily forgive a man widely regarded as the moral conscience of the world.

The source said: "We live in hope but we just can't find them. Most people at the Foreign Office don't think we ever will. The Prime Minister still thinks they will be found – perhaps he has more information."
Around 500 Spanish support troops were sent to Iraq. A 50-page manual reassured them about the dangers from nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. It contains six pages about snake bites and spiders and just two paragraphs on weapons of mass destruction.

During the war, three senior Bush administration officials told the press that 'President Bush's aides did not forcefully present him with dissenting views from CIA and State and Defense Department officials' over the truth of the situation in Iraq (8). So maybe Bush himself was hoodwinked into a misguided war.

For Bush and Blair, the ancient Greek orator Demosthenes' description of a dupe is probably most fitting: 'A man is his own easiest dupe - for what he wishes to be true he generally believes to be true.'

"We've told the British today that if we're not paid by Friday, we'll arm ourselves with guns again and start killing every foreigner we see in Iraq."

Then ask yourself: when you choose to fight back against the foreigners' brutal occupation of your country, your city, and your neighborhood, to resist the desecration of your place of worship, to seek revenge for the arbitrary slaughter of your loved ones, does anyone have the right to call you a terrorist?

Death of a Language
“Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, ‘This was their finest hour.’” — Sir Winston Churchill, June 18, 1940
“There are some who feel like that conditions are such that they can attack us there. My answer is: Bring them on. We have the force necessary to deal with the situation. — George W. Bush, July 2, 2003

Thurmond sired a daughter in 1925 with a black house servant named Essie "Tunch" Butler

The States Rights Party ("Dixiecrat" was the coinage of a waggish newspaper editor) that drafted him for president in 1948 was a top-down junta of oligarchs who had been plotting their bolt from the New Deal Democratic Party since 1941, when Franklin Roosevelt created the Committee on Fair Employment Practice to eliminate race discrimination in war industries.