wnyc.org / 93.9fm / am 820

Thank you for showing us your true "democratic" colors by removing my original anti-illegal immigration post! You have proven to me what "LIBERAL democracy" is really all about. It's about stifling dissent if it doesn't bow in accordance to your liberal bent.

...convince me and other like me to move back home.

...recognize that YOU are UNIQUE!!

But no more so than any other country.

Happy Birthday America. I hope you one day remember who you were and rebel against what you've become.

At one time, even if you were in the highest seats of power, if you did wrong, you paid for it. Now your friends, your influence, your stature and wealth, your celebrity can all keep you from experiencing one iota of remorse, grief, regret...

At one time, you could be famous for the good work you've done. Now, you can be famous just for being famous and contribute noting to art, humanity or knowledge. You can flash your rear or a breast and own the attention of a nation. You too can do wrong and it will be accepted because you're just sooooo bad.

At one time, the thought of killing for fame was abhorrent. Now it seems like a small caveat.

At one time, our friends outnumbered our enemies because they knew our intentions were usually good and usually just. Now our intentions are sinister and greedy, cloaked with a cover story of good and just. And if the cover gets blown, we replace good and just with shock and awe.

At one time, the planes hit the towers and, for the briefest of moments, America went colorblind. Lines formed around blood banks as citizenry exposed their arms, and their courage, in the face of actual terror. What color those arms were, how old or young, with whom they held in their beds and the wrongs that they may have been tools toward in older lives disappeared. In a moment of stark realization, the promise of equality was achieved. Yes, we were all scared. Yes, we were all ready to try. Sadly, that single good that came from so much bad has evaporated. We really ought to try to get that good thing back.

At one time, the politics of fear would not have allowed a failed political leader continue to lead. God bless America and keep her from making that same mistake the next time her enemies park nail-loaded car bombs in European parking lots. May her citizens realize that there are many reasons why this has not occurred here lately, but none of them are because of civil and social oppressions, privacy invasions, power lusting, greed bartering and lies... many, many lies.

Happy Birthday America. Do the right thing, and quickly.

DwD

To The United States Amnesia,

Reminder that thing about "liberty and justice for all"? Forget rhetoric. Make it so.

perr

Happy Birthday America,

I hope you won't become a bitter, cranky, self-centered, apathetic old country. Please don't get "set in your ways" and be dismissive of others. Appreciate the wisdom, intelligence, and experience that everyone has to offer. We are, for the most part, kind people with good hearts and generous spirits. And one very stupid leader.

Despite Bush's best attempts to end the strengths that support our country; such as-the enacting of domestic spying programs (though "FISA," warrants already covered that issue)"GITMO," torture, ghosts detainees, grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions...etc.
On the 4th, Americans should recall the signers of the Declaration of Independence were all traitors against the Crown. Many were labeled, "terrorists," Republicans forget and call Dems
unpatriotic for being opposed to the war. When Clinton ordered intervention in the Balkans, the Republican controlled Senate amended it however, to stating their opposition to Clinton's policy, and added that rather than preventing genocide this was a, "wag the dog," policy... never mind the Concentration Camps...displayed proudly to ITN new cameras by Serbian militias. Americans should remember that the U.S.A. offers military support to distinctly un-democratic countries. Egypt receives the highest amount of military aid.
Lastly, while I always opposed the war even as much of the media slept, even the biggest fool should have realized Bush was lying. used the phrase,"...mushroom cloud..." over and over that the entire story was a lie. If, however, the President does manage to lie the country into a war-here's a pointer-WIN IT! Powwel Doctrine ring any bells? There was more public outrage over the, "freeing," of Paris Hilton than Bush's commutation sentence (or of Scooter's sentence..die in many places) yet Americans often can't bothered except for the next,"Idol."

A sincere happy Indpendence Day.

I am a Tibetan political asylee.came to America tow years ago.
My cheif issue is install much more spritual values in Americans.

rededicate yourself to the principles of the Declaration and throw off the yoke of the Bush kingship. Return the Bill of Rights and the Constitution to the primacy they deserve. I hope you can become again a country to be proud of at home and respected in the world.

HB America... I hope we can learn to use technology to actually improve the quality of life for all citizens. Considering the advances of technology, can't we make the workplace more humane and more flexible so that we can spend more time with our families and with activities that sustain the earth instead of pollute it? And let us not continue to deepen the divide between rich and poor.

Stop being an imperialist power and tell other countries what to do. Clean up your own house, where human rights abuses (particularly against "minorities") and environmental exploitation/degradation continue unabated.

My hope for America is that it can age gracefully. So far, the evidence is that we're not achieving that goal. I think it was Bette Davis who said: "Growing old is not for sissies", and I think this applies to both individuals and to countries.

The challenge is to negotiate the loss of American hegemony in the world without succumbing to the equivalent of a male menopausal reaction; with macho attempts to deny an inevitable process.

So, happy 231st birthday to us all. May we learn from our mistakes and move more smoothly (than we have so far) into our next phase of life as a nation.

Happy Birthday America!

May your shores continue to be welcoming,
Your citizens as patriotic as they were the day of your birth,
And you continue to grow with the hopes and aspirations of the American dream!

Happy 231st and many more to come!

Happy Birthday America, I hope you return to your nobel tradition of firm separation of church and state

President Eisenhower's Farewell Address can be viewed here:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1520506247286790466&q=eisenhower+military+industrial+complex&total=54&start=50&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=3

It is 46 minutes long.

Happy birthday, America. I hope you aren't visited by divine justice.

Happy Birthday, America. I hope you. . .

protect one of our most precious rights, the right to vote. Protect it from manipulation from gerrymandering by corrupt politicians. Strengthen it by calling for Congress to pass a voters' rights act that settles for nothing less than a verifiable paper trail and vote-to-tally transparency. And finally, use it. Take back the power of the people by participating in our system of government rather tahn falling back on the excuse of "One vote doesn't matter" or "The system is rigged."

Act now or we may soon celebrate the anniversary of the hopeful system of government that was.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA, Land of the Free, Home of the Brave and soon you'll be free of Cheney.

Resist the Declaration of INTERdependence.

You can read the document here: http://www.interdependence.org/pdf/declaration.pdf

... that you continue the process of progressively extending the democratic ideals expressed in the Declaration to more of the population by overthrowing the Divine Right of Capital (see Marjorie Kelly's book of the same name)and giving American employees the same right to own and manage democratically the corporations for which we work that we take for granted in our political system.

Brian, Can you post that video of President Eisenhower's departing speech warning us to beware of the military industrial complex?

ALSO Re: Media - we should all be mindful that commercial media is not in teh news business but in the advertising business and take that into consideration every time we read, listen or watch a commercially sponsored news paper or broadcast (or sneaky blog)

And Happy Birthday America you're not dead yet!

. . . get less of what you want, and more of what you need.

Less consumption, more introspection.
Less prime-time, more C-SPAN.
Less griping, more action.
Less complacency, more civic pride.

No government, including yours, has ever been primarily interested in preserving its people free. Only We the People can keep us free. I hope that you invest as much time in meaningful civic action as you do at the gym.

allow illegal immigrants amnesty...so that they and their children can become contributing, invested members of our society. Aside from Native Americans most of us are here because of our parents, grandparents, or great grandparents immigration...do we know if that was legal or illegal? We know that it has meant everything to our own lives and to the richness and diversity of our communities...

Happy Birthday AMERICA and I can only wish and hope that all the times it's said GOD BLESS AMERICA the elected politicians from any party means from the bottom of their heart that he/she has their hand on. I do. Many many infinite more.

Happy Birthday America, I hope you get back to the ideals of which you were founded.

Happy Birthday America:End the war, END THE WAR, and END THE WAR NOW.
Only way to achieve social justice here in America.

I hope you regain your youthful enthusiasm. I hope you can regain belief in "liberty and justice for all." I hope that the spirit of fairness, generosity, and hope has not been stifled beyond your ability to recoup. As the child of immigrant parents who came here from Ireland (1916 & 1920) I want to say I love you and thank you.

I hope you come to your senses, get out of Iraq, and elect a Democrat next time.

Happy Birthday America! Follow up Celebrating Independence Day by Celebrating Constitution Day on September 17, 2007 at the Nassau County Bar Association in the morning and Hofstra University School of Law in the evening, co-sponsored by the League of Women Voters Education Fund and the Program on Constitutional and Legal policy of the Open Society Institute and League of Women voters of Great Neck, N.Y. The Topic will be Safeguarding U.S. Democracy: Promoting an Independent Judiciary by Defending the U.S. Constitution. and Separation of Powers-Checks and Balances between the Judicial, Executive and Legislative Branches of the federal government.
Shirley Siegal, Co-President LWV Great Neck

..will free yourself from religious repression, politicians will not talk about God to get votes,we will achieve a real secular state, and stop imposing religion on those who do not share those beliefs at home and abroad.I hope we remember, that we are ruled by laws made by people for people, and wishes of God are actually against our constitution, and that any traffic sign such as traffic lights do far more good for humanity every day, then God has EVER done.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA,

I hope you are nearly over your silly mid-life crisis.

Michael

Happy Birthday United states I hope you...

can soon celebrate a new independence day. independence from the mess we have become!

Yours,
Brother Jonathan

Happy Birthday America, I hope you realize how good you have, develop a willingness to share your wealth with others, and not begrudge others for wanting to take part in the American Dream.

remember you're a nation of immigrants.

return to standing for Truth, Justice and the American Way.

You know, instead of torture, selfishness incompetence, and a system of legalized bribery.

Happy birthday United states I hope you win independence from the Electoral College. If I could enact one law it would be to end the Electoral College with my magic pen so our votes would count.

realize that you are but ONE PART of a whole.

that you correct the immigration situation so that taxes may be collected for the elderly to gracefully age rather than become bitter that they are not provided for, such as the women who just spoke (Diane)

Happy Birthday America, please work as hard as you can to protect our Constitution and our Bill of Rights which is under attack by the present administration. Join the League of Women Voters to Celebrate Constitution Day
on September 17, 2007 nationwide by educating yourself and your community about Separation of Powers and the Bill of Rights. Find out How Our Constitutional Rights have been affected by changes in Interpretation of Checks and Balances between the Judicial, Executive and Legislative Branches of the Federal Government?

realize the inalienable rights of clean air, clean water, and a clean future for all human beings.

Happy Birthday America, I hope you defeat tyranny not just abroad, but at also at home.

I hope that the true principles on which you were founded will impress themselves upon the Supreme Court Justices before the new activist majority renders you completely unrecognizable.

I hope you revise your historical foreign policy (starting 1898),
your "green light policies", and above all your economical recipes
through your "international and global" institutions like the
International Monetary Fund, and the World Bank.

That would be the best solution to the immigration problem.
Go back -specially to Latin America-, and fix your mess.
Return the real independence to those that have it, only symbolically
and, stop deviating the attention of the general public with absurds...

Let's remember TODAY, George Washington's farewell address.
Also, what a group of wise men proclaimed back then (1900s)
something that still applies today:
"..we insist that the subjugation of any people is 'criminal aggression'
and open disloyalty to the distinctive principles of our Government"

on your bday america, don't forget that you need to listen to "the people," which seems to have been a lost sentiment. the people, not the politicians and the corporations, should make the collective decisions and bring about change. specifically, most of the people want out of iraq, most of the people want alberto gonzalez out and gone, most people want action taken in darfur immediately...i could go on, but that's the point.

best,
david

you get more statesmen and fewer politicians

Happy Birthday America.

I'm sorry you're not well.

I hope your recover in '08.

Happy B'day America, I hope you stop watching Fox News.

...keep the Statue of Liberty facing outward.

Start voting and throw ALL of the bums out!

I'd like to see a congress and administration filled with good-intentioned amateurs.

But, maybe that's not enough of a revolution...

I hope you use wisdom and diligence in nominating and electing our leaders, so that our elected representatives live the ideals of concern for all of the people of our country, and for personal freedom, honesty, competence, respect for our Constitution and practical improvements and solutions regardless of ideology.

Happy Birthday America. I hope you never loose your sense of wonder. I hope you will never abondon the pursuit of happiness and the search to continually improve yourself. Thanks for letting me in, become your citizen and fall in love with you!!!!!!

strive to help those who think they can rule this country and have very obviously forgotten what you stand for to gently or radically come back around to remember that for which you stand. Please have your original guidelines and declarations stand tall and above personal agendas that do not represent the greater good of our country. One person's rule and/or gain does not necessarily aid represent the greater good for all, especially today. Bigger and broader and more luxurious housing and personal possessions do nothing for our country or our neighborhoods. How did we forget that??

Happy B'day America.
Hope you become wiser, America in choosing your leader. You made a mistake twice in a row, now we're in a big mess. Thanks for being here. Happy B'day.
Frantz
A Republocrat

Happy Birthday America I hope you wake up soon and find even some of the courage that our forefathers had when they insisted on and fought for our independence from King George. Our current administration has been dismantling our constitution in their grab for absolute power.

Happy Birthday my land, happy birthday to you, Grandpa and Grandma made the right choice. Sadly, this is a bad time for you, and so us, it happens to most now and then. Soon we will have the opportunity to help you out of this illness that has taken hold, literally taken hold of you. Let us work hard to get back to being healthy and strong.

i hope you realize that you are not number one
but are ONE of many
and should act more in the general interest of humanity
& not just in short sighted economic/nationalistic expediency

...get well soon. Stand strong in these times and remember the words of Theodore Roosevelt:

"The President is merely the most important among a large number of public servants. He should be supported or opposed exactly to the degree which is warranted by his good conduct or bad conduct, his efficiency or inefficiency in rendering loyal, able, and disinterested service to the Nation as a whole. Therefore it is absolutely necessary that there should be full liberty to tell the truth about his acts, and this means that it is exactly necessary to blame him when he does wrong as to praise him when he does right. Any other attitude in an American citizen is both base and servile. To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public. Nothing but the truth should be spoken about him or any one else. But it is even more important to tell the truth, pleasant or unpleasant, about him than about any one else."

(Roosevelt in the "Kansas City Star", May 7, 1918)

...you will redeem the sins that accompanied your founding by continuing to strive toward fulfilling your great promise.

...never forget your history.

Happy Birthday America - It's time to wake up and smell the oil!

feel ashamed.
king george has shamed this country to a degree that there is global disgust with our nation.

What a horrible thing. When king george is finally gone and a dark mark in the history books, we will have so much reparation to do it is unfathomable.

Where is the revolution? Why are we not storming the White House as we did on this day in the past?

I am embarassed by you, America. Where is the action?

Many of you do not deserve this independence.

rid yourself of this corrupt and morally bankrupt administration as soon as possible and return to the ideals of which made you great.

pass an immigration bill or some meaningful and substantial steps for the existing foreigners now here BEFORE the next presidential election.

and bring in new members to the House and Sentate that appreciate the world as it is progressing.

somehow can persuade your youth away from the "it's cool to be ignorant", "Jackass" mentality of world polotics. I hope that sooner than later it will become more important to get out and at least vote for what's important rather than taking stock of Paris Hilton's D.U.I. mishaps-

Get Well Soon

Dear America,
I hope you remember when your citizens were striving for their best and truest vision – talking about great ideas and working to improve life for all people. America, I hope you encourage your children to use their time to cultivate their minds and to grow compassion in their hearts. Though prosperity symbolizes success, it is your heart and true spirit that make me proud to be one little thread in your colorful tapestry.
America, I love you.
- Regina Frei

...remember that your ideals are the true guarantors of your security, and that a struggle that forces us to turn our backs on those ideals is probably not winnable and definitely not worth winning.

I would just like to point up that as much as the phrase "life liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" seems to be inseparable from the American ethos, it is nothing more than a phrase in a letter to the King of England and is nowhere enshrined in the constitution or the Bill of Rights. As much as I would wish that it were a true goal for people throughout the world, we cannot ignore that in our pursuit of happiness we also have a responsibility for the preservation of the environment in which we live. Perhaps we could live even better than we do, just as all the people of the world would like to, but it is not sustainable if we continue to live the way we are.

stay the course of Freedom. And I hope the rest of America doesn't slide into the corporate 'Disneyfied' blandness that is chasing the heart and soul of New York City into oblivion.
Happy 4th!

…lose your arrogance, the arrogance that compels a thoughtful radio talk show host to declare our democracy the best in the world. Isn’t this the attitude that got us into the Iraq quagmire?

Happy Birthday United States, I hope you will embrace the other countries of this hemisphere and the world and grow into a mature nation able to share and to love this one world we all live in.

...don't get invaded by Visigoths.

...you survive the constant onslaught you have experienced for the past 8-yrs to weaken your ideals and basic rule of law only to benefit the very wealthy and unscrupulous not realizing that the constant though slow pace towards equality for all is what has made you great.

If you don't survive it then we'll live in another Putin-like oligarchy or worst.

will allow other countries NOT to be dependent on you

...get a grip.

(I'm a dual citizen US/GB)

...figure out what you want to be when you grow up.

Dear Citizens of the United States of America,

United we stand, divided we fall. Our country was founded on the idea that its citizens have the right, the duty, and responsibility to monitor how our government is run. We also have the right to speak our minds about our government.

As you watch, listen, and respond to all political news programs, please remember that creating controversy for its own sake and for profit is not in keeping with the spirit of our Bill of Rights. We seem to have lost this right in recent years. Please fellow Americans, be aware of who you listen to and what their motives are. We seem to be losing the respect of the world while our country is being divided and weakened by entertainers disguised as journalists. We deserve better.

Happy Birthday, United States of America! With love, Elizabeth Mackin

continue to live up to your values of freedom, equality and justice in a more dangerous world.

...own up to your past--a nation built on the murder of indigenous peoples and the importing of african slaves, wake up to your present--a hyper-capitalist and aggressive nation living under the illusions of Democracy and Freedom, and STAND UP FOR YOUR FUTURE--not just by elections in a two-party mafia, but every day of your life.

America, I hope you come through the bad patch we've been in, and emerge with your traditional freedoms intact. I hope you recover the promise you have extended to the world, of freedom and hope of a better life.

A quote from Alexander Hamilton, 1775

"The sacred rights of mankind are not to be rummaged for, among old parchments, or musty records. They are written, as with a sun beam in the whole volume of human nature, by the hand of the divinity itself; and can never be erased or obscured by mortal power."

Happy Birthday and God Bless America.

Helen

..find a way back to progress that is defined by the happiness rather than the wealth of our people.

will remember (and tell Brian L) that many of the provisions in the Bill of Rights come straight out of the UK Bill of Rights of 1689.

These include: petitioning the government, bearing arms (unfortunately), excessive "baile", "cruell and unusuall" punishments etc.

Happy Birthday United States.

I shall, as an expat Brit in New York, show my solidarity as I do every year, by throwing a tea bag into the Hudson River.

I heard your comment about Mr Brown this morning being 231 years late; I must point out that the British Parliament passed a Bill of Rights in 1689, shortly after the Glorious Revolution.

remember that .."to secure these [unalienable]rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.

p.s. the version of the Declaration of Independence I have in front of me uses "unalienable" rights not inalienable. Which is correct?

Yes, support the Declaration of Independence.

But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good. He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers. He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries. He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence.
Do you recognize who “ He ” is And who “them “ are?

I wish you a Happy Birthday, if not this year, then perhaps in 2009 when you again are free from the despotic grasp of the Bush Kingship.

Won't the return of habeus corpus be cause for celebration?

Won't it be great to end the illegal search and seizure of electronic surveillance?

Happy Birthday, America! I hope you can hold on for two more years.

Neil

Grow up!

...continue to strive for the highest ideals embodied in the Declaration of Independence… the inalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for all human beings.