Happy 4th of July!!!

[Cherokee_Mountaincat]

Please have a fun and safe and fantastic 4th!:bigrin:
Remember who got you the opportunity to Have this holiday, and all They gave for you too..:}
Flag wavin Cat

[Lisa (va)]

HAPPY 4TH TO ALL


Lisa (with Jenn)

hugs n kisses

[Caaveman]

I don't know about everyone else here, but I would like to personally thank you Cat for reminding all of us to think about the people who faught gallantly for the land we live our lives out on, and the freedom that we do still have today. My father was Army, as was I and my son was a marine. My son-in-law is still in the army. I won't say that I agree with where we all stand, nor with the way our country is, has been (from time to time), or is going in whole. But I do still believe that we do have it better here than any where else in the world. We all remember winning, loosing, and the stalemates of wars, but we seem to not so much remember the actual people in the field that did the dirty work, and got wounded, died, or even made it home with no apparent injuries. But I know of no one that didn't get affected in some way or another, that ever knew battle. So I would like to take this moment to say thank you to all who have ever served, and a extra special thanks to all those who actually had to go in to battle (anywhere and any time).

And HAPPY 4TH TO EVERYONE !!!

Instead of me typing twice (here and there) I'd like to say that everyone that would like to know a bit more about our 4TH can see
http://main.bisexual.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7468


Please have a fun and safe and fantastic 4th!:bigrin:
Remember who got you the opportunity to Have this holiday, and all They gave for you too..:}
Flag wavin Cat

[Adrian Tepes]

Happy Fourth to all the Americans. To the British on this website, BOOYA! In the best way possible of course.

[NYRangersFan]

My dad is a VET. I'm wearing a shirt that is all too true with our flag and the bald eagle...."Freedom is not Free" just remember that today! Much love and prayers to those over seas and I hope we bring them back soon!

[nyabn_webmaster]

Passing on the Happy 4th of July message from the folks at BiNet USA:

On this Fourth of July, 2009, we bisexual, fluid and pansexual citizens and residents of the United States of America as well as our friends, families and allies can be proud that we are ably represented at several levels of government by out Bi-identified LGBT politicians. This includes New Yorks State's out bisexual Assemblyman Micah Kellner who has sent this Fourth of July message to the Bisexual Community:

"On this our day of independence, we must always remember that we had to fight for our rights and freedom. They were not handed to us. The 4th of July should be a reminder to all those in the Bisexual Community that we must continue to fight for full acceptance with in the greater LGBT community. Bisexuals must be an equal partner in the loud and proud fight for LGBT civil rights."

You can read full article here: [BiNet USA]: Happy 4th of July!!! (http://binetusa.blogspot.com/2009/07/happy-fourth-of-july.html)

[Cherokee_Mountaincat]

You are very welcome, Caavie. :} Peck to your cheek Hon.
Cat in Chat

[12voltman59]

Not to get too poitical on here--I am a vet myself---and am proud of my time in service-----looking back on things--- if I could go back in a time machine to that point when I made the decision to leave the service, I think I would have done differently now and not left--I would have become "a lifer!!" LOL

Even though I didn't really think of it--or if I did---investigate or act on any of my "bi desires" when I was in service---now that I am out and have sought out to find my "bi side"--it astounds me at how many former and current people who serve in the US military somehow fall under the GLBT umbrella---and with that being the case----I really do wish that people in the power positions as well as the public in general come to realize----GLBT have, do and continue to serve this nation with honor, do their duty and make a positive contribution to the well being of the nation.

This crazy policy of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" is just not reflective of reality---it needs to be dumped ASAP and the laws changed so GLBT people can openly and proudly serve in the military should that be their calling!!!

I do hope ya'all had a great July 4th holiday--I sure did spending it in part with friends and family, and spending some time at the local celebrationns, covering them for the local paper I am now doing work for.

I know I am being my usual rambly self--but I have a few more things I want to share with ya----lately I have been having some private conversations with Cat about the life of native peoples in this nation.

I had a time when, out of my love of history---of varying kinds----had gone out and done some of my own personal investigation regarding those native peoples who had historically called Ohio home.

I wanted to not only know of their history--I came to hear of their stories and struggles as a people who we can say without much objection---were treated pretty shabbily by a government that professed at its core to love all people and sought to grant "human rights."

One of the things I did in that time was to start going to "powwows" or gatherings of native people--often held places of cultural or historical significance to them that still remain in their same basic condition as in the past.

For those who have never been to such a gathering----they are most often started out by the carrying in of the US flag--and the flags of each of the armed services of this nation along with the POW/MIA flag.

It seemed they always found some veteran--native or non-native-- to carry the flag of each service--hopefully by someone who was a vet of those services---with my service---the US Coast Guard being a small one and with Ohio being a more or less inland state, even though we do have a big CG presence on both of the major waterways that border this state-Lake Erie and The Ohio River----the CG is a service not really known much in Ohio--no one seemed to be around to carry the CG flag---over the loudspeaker--they'd ask for someone who is a CG vet to carry the flag--so I got up and did it----

When I was done----the native vets all congratulated each other and came to me and even though they didn't know me from Adam---hugged me or shook my hand and called me "Brother!"

Over time--I made some friends of some folks of native background---many of mixed blood--but they were trying to recover their own connections with the ways of their ancestors---some also had always had that connection.

With my becoming involved with these folks---my perceptions of what it was to be a native person had changed for sure---having been a white suburban kid with a dad who just "loves Westerns"--I had sort of bought into the notions of what society dictated was the view of native people. (I still love the good guy/bad guy westerners--but man--I now almost want to shoot the frackin' TV when they have those Hollywoodized cariactures of native people (um--White Man speak with forked tongue) and all that crap about the "savage natives" that need to be "put under control!!")

Once I had been around awhile too, I got to take part in the non-public aspects of "pow-wows" like joining in on drumming circles and such during the night long after the pubic had gone home.

I asked my native friends this one question about their respect for the flag in spite that a strong case could be made--that the flag represented so many bad things that had been done to they as a society and people: "we love the American flag--not because it represents the government--but it to us represents the land and the people--all the people who are here-that is why we honor, respect and cherish the flag of this nation--it represents all of us!"

Well---I had sorta had my issues at times with the flag being my "liberal self" or a least a person who by hook or crook---had come to study this history of this nation away from what was in the books and the fact that it did seem to not always represent the ideals of what this nation was supposed to be about----but thanks to what my native friends told me--I found my peace with that flag and all--and came to have a greater appreciation of the flag and what it represents--warts and all.

As to the flying of the flags each US miltiary branch---that relfects that in spite of the ill treatment that native people have gotten from this government----native peoples have served this nation's military since the very beginning of the republic and on up to this time--in very high numbers. They are proud and honored to having served.

Their flying the POW/MIA flag also shows that they wish for those Americans, of any ethnic or cultural origin, who might still be rotting in some hell hole as a POW --will one day come home--either dead or alive--or that those who were listed MIA--while most of them certainly long dead----their remains are one day found, brought back to this land and to their families so that both the living and dead find their peace.

America may be the best or the worst nation I supposed depending on one's perspective----I both love and hate it at times--sometimes at the same time--but it is my nation--it is my home and Americans are "my people"--Americans of all stripes and types---for good and bad---I sure do love the land of this nation---it does seem where ever I have found myself living or spending extended times--I have had this need to connect with the land in some way---with those places having varied landscapes----the hills and flatlands of Ohio--its rivers and lakes----or down in the low country of the Southeast coast with its salt marshes and barrier islands then on down the coast to the Florida Keys----- to the rocky shores of New England--the Smoky and Blue Ridge mountains of the mid-south-----the deserts of the Southwest and the shores of the Pacific----I always seemed to have this need to roam those lands and spend time in them---I need to find "my spots" in them----that is a concept I got from a native friend who was a "spirit man"

As far as the people I hung with then--this was back about ten years or so now----life happened to take me away from them and them from me---things like deaths, divorces---a situation that it's hard to take sides when you like and love both parties--so you don't take a side and you lose 'em both---job transfers or they had to find gainful employment that took them away from the area.

I saw one of those "quiet little films" in the course of my running around on the fourth called "The Education of Little Tree"--I had not heard of the story it came from or of the film before this day-but it was a nice story-and in it---the Grandpa character in the story had his special spots and taught Little Tree to find his---so--while I have my little spots wherever I happen to light--I find those spots helps to "ground me"--I guess in a bigger sense--my big spot is the good old US of A--and I don't apologize for that one iota.

I am proud to have served this nation in the way it asked me to do --and not to sound too sappy--in my own way----I AM PROUD TO BE AMERICAN!!!-I am that by birth and could not be anything else but one.

Well-time to end this old rambling post---I hope each and everyone of you, Americans and non-Americans alike had a great day on Saturday, July 4, 2009!!

Sorry for the ramble--for those who stuck with me on it--thank you for your attention--and for those who didn't hang with me here:bigrin::bigrin:----well f#*k you too!! Not really---I understand your pain!!:bigrin:

Bye all!! (for now!)