fattman wrote:

Happy Birthday USA!

Revolting colonialists  

Yup, and us Irish were too  

Noticed:  no crazed brouhaha and kneejerk flagwaving for Canada Day on July 1.

Cheers ...

Smiles wrote:

Noticed:  no crazed brouhaha and kneejerk flagwaving for Canada Day on July 1.

Cheers ...

Canada still maintains Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth the Second, as its Monarch, so can be relied upon to show proper decorum.

Bwana wrote:

" ... Canada still maintains Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth the Second, as its Monarch, so can be relied upon to show proper decorum ... "

True, but she's already 112 and won't let go, as they say.  Wants desperately to beat Queen Victoria in the longevity game.  The Canadian future as far as British monarchs are concerned is interesting:  a bewildered and Edwardian-minded herb-taster is next in line, a short term disaster in the making ... then up pop two drug-addled and sex-crazed twinks, one who may well reign longer than his grandma.

Cheers ...

But when is Canada going to drop that ridiculous flag with the leaf and revert back to the 'proper' flag that shows more respect?



The Red Ensign came into use unofficially in 1868, and by 1945 an edict said it could be flown from federal government buildings. Red Ensigns were carried by Canadians in both world wars and it wasn't until 1965, when the Maple Leaf was adopted as Canada's flag, that it lost its status.

Revolting colonialists.

Cheers ...

When I lived in Boston, on the 4th of July I used to fly a Union Jack out my window as a true blue loyalist, until my colleagues at work pointed out that the average American probably didn't know what it was!

Aunty wrote:

I used to fly a Union Jack out my window

Absolutely amazing and so true, that even an English(wo)man does not know how to describe our flag. It has been the same design since 1st January 1801.

It is called the Union Flag because it symbolises the administrative union of the countries of the United Kingdom.
It is made up up of the individual Flags of three of the Kingdom's countries all united under one Sovereign.
The countries of 'England, of 'Scotland' and of 'Northern Ireland' (since 1921 only Northern Ireland has been part of the United Kingdom).
Because Wales is not a Kingdom but a Principality it could not be included on the flag.

'Union Jack' was officially acknowledged as an alternative name for the Union Flag by the Admiralty and Parliament in the early 20th century.
The term 'jack' refers to the flag that is flown from the bowsprit of a ship, often denoting nationality.

homintern is on your IGNORE list.

jinks wrote:

Aunty wrote:

I used to fly a Union Jack out my window

Absolutely amazing and so true, that even an English(wo)man does not know how to describe our flag. It has been the same design since 1st January 1801.

It is called the Union Flag because it symbolises the administrative union of the countries of the United Kingdom.
It is made up up of the individual Flags of three of the Kingdom's countries all united under one Sovereign.
The countries of 'England, of 'Scotland' and of 'Northern Ireland' (since 1921 only Northern Ireland has been part of the United Kingdom).
Because Wales is not a Kingdom but a Principality it could not be included on the flag.

'Union Jack' was officially acknowledged as an alternative name for the Union Flag by the Admiralty and Parliament in the early 20th century.
The term 'jack' refers to the flag that is flown from the bowsprit of a ship, often denoting nationality.

Mon Vieux Jinks; As a supplément to your lesson on the Union Flag, the three countries are represented by the Cross of St. George; St. Andrew and St. Patrick. But the flag is "never" flown from the bowsprit at the fore of the ship. Always from the aft either on the mizzen mast, a staff or a halyard.

francois wrote:

Soi 69 wrote:

Danes and Danish-Americans celebrate the U.S. Independence Day by the world's largest 4. July event outside the United States.
But it is not a National Holiday in Denmark

I stand corrected. Maybe better to say some Danes celebrate Fourth of July as  an American National Holiday?

Hmm, I was very surprised when I read this topic, and I am still. quote: "some danes celebrate...." as an...holiday"? I have never ever known that, ;-)
In some place called Rebild, in Jutland, a part of our very small country Denmark there is a celebration, but it is celebrated in what we before called "The Industrial Holiday" . This year even the american ambassador did not go there, he prefered to drive on his bicycle around of the capital called Copenhagen. Clever man :-).  0,0000000.....9 procent of the danish population could never care less.



Last edited by hansiThe2 on Fri 4 Jul, 2008 8:05 pm; edited 1 time in total

I loved your snippet on Mykonos.  Sounded like real life.  I still remember the Irish Pub, where I got a T-shirt in Mykonos, and drank way too much Ouzo.  Loved that shirt till  got holes in it.  I fell off a motor bike after a bit too much Ouzo  one night , and  the the concussion was only small.  I still  am not sure if it was from falling off the bike or the Ouzo that made my head hurt so much.  I thought all the Greeks were great and very loving people.  Did love the beach, that was in the days when forgetting to don bathing attire was no big deal, at least for me.

Oh yeah, I made love to a Belgian guy just belove one of the windmills, we had been out dancing all the night. I will never forget him. Mykonos, the beach Super Paradise, my own youth of age, the Interrail system. Train across Europe for no money. And then the boat from Athen. One of my friends was there 4 years ago, and told me it was a place for young people, I had to reply that it was the same 20..., ups was it 30, years agogo? :-)

fattman wrote:

Interesting stuff:
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness."

Does this give the folks of the existing US (13 colonies) the right to chuck out by force any existing or future government that breaches the terms of Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness?

This too was a recent event,

Wes