July 4: 3 Words
Posted by Michelle Moquin on July 4th, 2011
Good morning!
So today, the 4th of July, is a day in celebration of our independence. And, in light of what I am about to post, I am not saying that you should not celebrate with family and friends. I’m just saying to think about this day in a different light than you usually do.
Like always…just keeping it real.
The Damaging Three Words of the Declaration of Independence
When I moved to San Francisco decades ago, I was invited to any number of July 4th gatherings. They all had two things in common.
First, they were freezing. What was with this fog?
Second, at someone’s suggestion – I think mine, but cannot claim authorship for sure – we started reading the Declaration of Independence out loud. I had a World Almanac that contained a copy. Yes, the New York Times prints a full page version of the original, but those old f’s for s’s, among other stumbles, made us choose more modern type.
Our tradition was to set out the picnic stuff, run back to the car for another jacket or sweater, maybe a hat or gloves, then, once the shivering merriment was underway, pull out the Almanac, and open it to the Declaration.
We took turns, each person reading a paragraph or two, or part of one, depending on such factors as the reader’s dramatic interpretation inclination, or shyness. Then the reader would pass the book to the next person.
I really liked doing this – if not then, when? – but the tradition took place years before I started working on my book, Indian Voices: Listening to Native Americans and, well, I was not paying a lot of attention to certain phrases. My Euro-centric background was just fine with Th. Jefferson’s prose. So much of it was thrilling. “He has plundered our Seas, ravaged our Coasts …” Whew! “… circumstances of Cruelty and Perfidy” what rhythm, what cadence, I thought.
Eventually, however, we get to “domestic Insurrections amongst us,” and here it comes, the phrase that distresses me so much after spending close to a decade meeting, and listening to, Native Americans, that I can barely stand to read it, nor type it.
“… the merciless Indian Savages.”
Say what? From the elegantly-quotable Jefferson? Yes. “… the merciless Indian Savages, whose known Rule of Warfare, is an undistinguished Destruction, of all Ages, Sexes and Conditions.”
While Native Americans celebrate this 4th of July weekend, probably with hotdogs and fireworks, and possibly a powwow (as far as I know, the day has not attained the level of dislike or dismissal in Indian country that there is towards Columbus Day), I wonder whether we might all read the Declaration of Independence out loud, consider what that three word phrase wrought, not to mention the words about “undistinguished Destruction.” Destruction of who by whom? Native people, among others, may ask.
The words themselves are so savage, it is a wonder to me that there had already been a celebrating of Thanksgiving.
***********
Comments? Blog me.
Daniel: Thanks for the advice. I haven’t done any upgrades to my blog for awhile and was just talking to someone who is going to help me with the upgrade. But it sounds like that may not be the answer. If I change to another service, do you have any suggestions of where I should go? Thanks.
Lucy, Stepfan, anonymous, and any one else who is frustrated posting: I know it sucks. It just isn’t my service though. There are other things that come into play. Sorry for the hassle. I am working on it.
Have a Happy 4th of July everyone! Have fun – Be safe. And if you’re biking, don’t be stupid – wear a helmet. :)
Peace out.
Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.
Gratefully your blog host,
michelle
Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)
If you love my blog and my writes, please make a donation via PayPal, credit card, or e-check, please click the “Donate” button below. (Please only donations from those readers within the United States. – International readers please see my “Donate” page)
Or if you would like to send a check via snail mail, please make checks payable to “Michelle Moquin”, and send to:
Michelle Moquin PO Box 29235 San Francisco, Ca. 94129
Thank you for your loyal support!
All content on this site are property of Michelle Moquin © copyright 2008-2011
" Politics, god, Life, News, Music, Family, Personal, Travel, Random, Photography, Religion, Aliens, Art, Entertainment, Food, Books, Thoughts, Media, Culture, Love, Sex, Poetry, Prose, Friends, Technology, Humor, Health, Writing, Events, Movies, Sports, Video, Christianity, Atheist, Blogging, History, Work, Education, Business, Fashion, Barack Obama, People, Internet, Relationships, Faith, Photos, Videos, Hillary Clinton, School, Reviews, God, TV, Philosophy, Fun, Science, Environment, Design, The Page, Rants, Pictures, Church, Blog, Nature, Marketing, Television, Democrats, Parenting, Miscellaneous, Current Events, Film, Spirituality, Obama, Musings, Home, Human Rights, Society, Comedy, Me, Random Thoughts, Research, Government, Election 2008, Baseball, Opinion, Recipes, Children, Iraq, Funny, Women, Economics, America, Misc, Commentary, John McCain, Reflections, All, Celebrities, Inspiration, Lifestyle, Theology, Linux, Kids, Games, World, India, Literature, China, Ramblings, Fitness, Money, Review, War, Articles, Economy, Journal, Quotes, NBA, Crime, Anime, Islam, 2008, Stories, Prayer, Diary, Jesus, Buddha, Muslim, Israel, Europe, Links, Marriage, Fiction, American Idol, Software, Leadership, Pop culture, Rants, Video Games, Republicans, Updates, Political, Football, Healing, Blogs, Shopping, USA, Class, Matrix, Course, Work, Web 2.0, My Life, Psychology, Gay, Happiness, Advertising, Field Hockey, Hip-hop, sex, fucking, ass, Soccer, sox"
July 4th, 2011 at 10:10 am
HIDDEN BPA IN YOUR FOOD
You already know that there’s all sorts of dangerous, disgusting stuff like pesticides, carcinogenic additives, chemical dyes and fillers made from unappetizing ingredients such as wood in packaged and processed foods…
but what you might not realize is that the bags, boxes and plastic containers those foods come in may be even worse for your health.
New research has found that by simply getting rid of these packages as quickly as you can, you’ll be bringing yourself and your family astonishing and practically immediate health benefits.
You’re no doubt aware of the dangers linked to use of the toxic chemical Bisphenol A (BPA), found in polycarbonate plastic food containers, including but not limited to bottles and takeout food containers.
There’s been much written on the dangers of using BPA in packaging including breast and prostate cancer and early puberty. However, now that we’ve all been exposed to it for years, are we doomed?
The Breast Cancer Fund and Silent Spring Institute (both San Francisco-based organizations focused on environmental causes of breast cancer) conducted a study to measure how dangerous these packages are, specifically zeroing in on how quickly and meaningfully the BPA levels in the body decline when people stop eating or drinking foods packaged in BPA containers.
As part of their study, the Breast Cancer Fund and Silent Spring Institute enrolled five families, each consisting of two parents and two children, who had regularly consumed prepackaged, processed foods and drinks in cans, frozen dinners, bottled water and foods designed to be microwaved in their own containers.
Then, for three days, these families were presented with fresh, organic food cooked by the research team and stored only in glass or stainless steel containers.
To measure the direct and immediate impact of the change, researchers collected urine samples from all participants before, during and after the diet.
DRAMATIC RESULTS
After just three days, everyone’s BPA level fell, with an average drop of two-thirds. BPA has a half-life of six hours in your body, notes Connie Engel, PhD, program coordinator at The Breast Cancer Fund.
This means that six hours following exposure, half of what you’ve taken in is eliminated. When the families resumed their normal diets, their BPA levels returned to pre-intervention levels by the next urine sample.
These findings were published in March in the online journal Environmental Health Perspectives.
TO GET HEALTHIER RIGHT NOW
This study demonstrates that we all can quickly lower our own BPA levels by making basic changes in what we eat and drink…
Buy whole foods — and carry them home in paper bags.
Do not microwave in plastic — even if it is labeled “microwave-safe”! Heat raises BPA levels in plastic, upping the health hazards. Instead, microwave food in glass or ceramic containers.
Consider switching to a French press coffeemaker. Typical coffeemakers may contain traces of BPA and other toxins in the bin that holds the coffee filter and coffee.
These grow more concentrated when heated.
Kick the cans. Avoid canned foods except those that are in BPA-free cans, such as from Eden Foods, Vital Choice, Oregon’s Choice and Trident Seafoods.
Watch out for the kids. Developing children are at even greater risk for harm from BPA. Use glass baby bottles or BPA-free plastic bottles. For older children, get stainless steel lunch boxes instead of plastic.
Dr. Engel told me that the families in the study were thrilled with the results and are now taking matters into their own hands to cut back on BPA exposure. You can do the same with your own family.
Source(s):
Connie Engel, PhD, program coordinator, Breast Cancer Fund, San Francisco.
July 4th, 2011 at 12:33 pm
Slavery and our treatment of native Americans are scars on this nation. This was supposed to be a nation founded from the very beginning on the ideals of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for all.
Unfortunately, a closer read of our history shows that this simply wasn’t the case. Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness was limited to white male landowners.
Much of our country has evolved since then, but don’t pretend like these things didn’t happen. We live in the greatest nation on earth, but even greatness has flaws.
It’s far better to recognize those flaws where they exist so that they can be corrected and not resurface than to ignore them and see them reappear again and again and again.
July 4th, 2011 at 12:36 pm
I agree with what Zen Lill hinted at. We don’t have a country of States anymore. What we have is the United States of Corporations, curteosy of the republicans and “the bought and paid for five” STARK on the US Supreme Court.
Martha
July 4th, 2011 at 1:15 pm
The Chinese new strategy in southern Africa is to bring over thousand of chinese men and financially back them in marriages to african women so that they can get control of the land.
The chinese are using a tactic of forcing their males to marry african women as a tactic the French used in the Revolutionary War with the American Indian. It gives the males the title to the land.
July 4th, 2011 at 8:08 pm
In We are in 1881:
In 1878, young desperado William Bonney was working honestly as a cowhand for rancher Richer Brewer when he and all his coworkers were engaged by Hohn Tunstall in the “Lincoln County War”. On Tunstall’s murder, Bonney swore, “I’ll get every son-of-a-bitch who helped kill John if it’s the last thing I do.”
Despite this, “Billy the Kid” was a minor member of he 60-strong “army” that prosecuted the “war” on behalf of Tunstall’s lawyer-partner, Alexander McSween’s.
He did not become a leader until July 1878, when most of McSween’s men deserted, and McSween himself was killed.
During the intervening months, Billy was one of those who ambushed and gunned down Sheriff Brady in Lincoln, and one of a posse which killed three unarmed prisoners.
With the leaders dead or bankrupted, the “war” ended, and the survivors agreed neither to fire nor inform on each other. But Billy broke this truce, betraying opposition gunmen to territorial Governor Lew Wallace.
His treachery backfired, and he was arrested and condemned to death for Brady’s murder. But he escaped from jail by killing two sheriff’s deputies.
Finally on April 29, Sheriff Pat Garrett followed information to trail him to Fort Sumner and waited for the suspicious outlaw to creep in to a darkened bedroon, asking “Quien es?” (Who is it?)
He was shot before he could go for his guns.
July 4th, 2011 at 8:26 pm
The words are actually no big deal; however, the policies of deliberate attempted genocide and the total anihilation of a culture that existed on this continent for 10 Thousand years before our forbearers came here Is a big deal and should never be forgotten.
And if we are actually celebrating Democracy here this 4th of July perhaps we should celebrate the democracy that was here when Europeans arrived and which without there may well have never been a democracy in The US.
July 4th, 2011 at 9:21 pm
Michelle I think it was the word our founding fathers left out that really describes their true intentions. WHITE!
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all (WHITE) men are created equal,…..
That explains how the nation was truly formed and how it has been run for 245 years and counting. The white male is America’s Affirmative Action Beneficiary. The only change in that position that has occurred in the last 30 years is in the degree to which the white male benefits from being America’s Affirmative Action Beneficiary.
He has been forced to share a little of the entitlements that he took for granted. To his credit he has been working hard to regain whatever he lost through the republican party efforts to fill the courts with racists, bigots, and men willing to sell out for a few dollars more.
For example what he lost by having to give women the vote, sexual harassment protection and equality under the law, he is regaining by taking almost total control over her body through court rulings that force her to give up her rights to privacy, equal medical care and the right to make medical decisions without the input of some WHITE man.
The republican party has authored more than 925 bills in an effort to insure that a white man will have the last say in almost anything a woman wants to do with her body, especially in the way of reproduction.
Only white men and a few ignorant white women will claim that the Declaration of Independence or the US Constitution was not about life, liberty and justice for anyone but land owning WHITE men.
White women and OTWs were excluded entirely while non land owning white men could only hope to join the ranks and become beneficiaries of the aforementioned Declaration of the Constitution and the Constitution itself.
Like most of the white men today, the founding fathers were hypocrites if not flat out liars. Their purpose was to form a more perfect way to prosper for themselves.
They didn’t need the British empire or their taxes. But they did need the backs and the strength of the non land owing white men to fight their battles for them so they lied to them about the meaning of the Constitution.
This is the same behavior mimicked by the republican politician who cries at ceremonies honoring the Veterans while writing Bills to deprive them of the ability to rejoin society after they have served their country.
Robert
July 4th, 2011 at 9:23 pm
Their territory was invaded by European settlers and their culture was brought to near extinction.
It was illegal for many Indians to practice their own religion until a Congressional act in 1978. Independence for all?
A realistic look at our own history is not political correctness, it’s honest and fair.
July 4th, 2011 at 9:30 pm
“The greatness of this country,” really?
And all we had to do was slaughter an entire race of American Indians then put into slavery for 200 years the African Americans.
Help exploit nearly every continent on the globe for minerals. Like being behind the scenes in Congo where 4 million were murdered in the last 8 years. Because that is where Apple and other computer manufacturers get their Cobalt.
Minerals assembled in China under slave conditions for Steve Jobs profits. Where there has been an outbreak of suicides due to these conditions.
Sounds like the media brainwashing machine got us hook line and sinker.
July 5th, 2011 at 8:02 am
…and they wait in line for ibook, iphone, ipad
Perhaps it’s time for a line of organic products that do nothing and call them the ican’t, iwon’t, ilove…
July 5th, 2011 at 8:35 am
Frances and Martha, yes well rethuglcan females can be even worst than their male counterparts and it’s actually just a case of great brainwashing – unfortunate indeed. Notice I did not use the terms women and men bc these peeps do not deserve to be addressed as though they care about other women and men, bc they don’t, they care about themselves.
Boggzy, it’s actually the same when it comes to buying iPhones/iPads/iPons or anything else…people don’t think ten seconds ahead of what their own tech ‘needs’ are and they don’t want or are too lazy to protest.
Larry, thank you, yes – I cringe when I think about it sometimes, it sure was fun at the time though, that’s the beauty of being young and foolish. I’m just stoked I made it. I haven’t ridden in a long time now but would not dream of it without a ‘brain bucket’ : )
Luv, Zen Lill
July 5th, 2011 at 8:51 am
Ditto Main Dude
July 5th, 2011 at 9:23 am
Michelle, Anonz’s forces have reached Abyei. The fighting along the borders out lining Darfur, Khrtoum(Northern Sudan), and Southern Sudan has been fierce.
The UN has withdrawn their forces and pulled back to the southwest region of Darfur. Anonz’s forces held their ground and fought into the corner of Khartoum(Abyei) where I live that is being ethnically cleansed of all blacks. They are bringing in arabs to settle in our villages that have not been burned out or destroyed.
Anonz has taken a stand. We have lost more than 60,000 people who fled to avoid 100 deaths a day. Anonz has told the people he will hold the area until the UN comes back with rebel forces capable of defending against the powerful Sudanese army of the North.
We try to see that they have food and water to drink. Anonz’s forces are scattered about I don’t want to give anything away that might hurt him or his men. But I hope the UN or someone helps him.
Most of the rapes have stopped in this area since Anonz’s saying he will hunt down and remove the penises of the offenders. But that has brought another problem. The women and their children that flock to this area for his protection is weighing heavy on the supplies we have here.
Abyei was once one of the riches areas in Africa. We have an abundance of oil here. Our education and health services used to be one of the best in Southern Africa. Now we are but a bombed our remnant of ourselves.
Thank God for Anonz. Please pray for his safety.
Jata