HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY

And what a truly excellent 4TH OF JULY it is.

235 years ago today, General George Washington and the Continental Army were steps away from the fleet of Admiral Lord Richard Howe and the King's Army controlled by his brother General William Howe during this extremely tricky bit of the New York Campaign: http://bit.ly/iWgi8c

Watch it - I'll wait.

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Terrible. It just makes you sad. There's such a thick layer of grief and depression hanging over the entire video it almost feels as though Philip Seymour Hoffman is there.

Meanwhile the Continental Congress, led by John Hancock of Massachusetts, was in Philadelphia debating over Thomas Jefferson's draft of the Declaration of Independence - slavery being the particular topic. The signing didn't take place until August 2, some say.

The best representation is found on the back of the $2 banknote. Go ahead, check your wallet. If you DO NOT have a $2 bill, you can see it here, commemorated by this little gem: http://bit.ly/TALcv

I will again wait while you watch it.

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And that is EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED that day in Philadelphia, 1776.

You have a few questions, I gather. One such, being - "Is that Mr. Feeny from ABC's Boy Meets World/KITT from Knight Rider?"

I answer with Jefferson's (Ken Howard) impeccable timing: Yes. And the generic Ben Franklin is Howard Da Silva, but you probably don't even know what that means.

And I'm sure they sang at one another just like that.

THAT, however, is the history of why we celebrate TODAY, July 4, every year. It's nowhere near as awesome and glamourous as you may think all of that looked. But it does prove that, apparently, we gained independence with only a few thousand poorly-trained soldiers carrying muskets and a refined singing Congressman from Massachusetts.

DON'T FORGET: September 17 is CONSTITUTION DAY, which is JUST AS IMPORTANT as TODAY.

[voteresponsibly.]