Outrageous Vulnerabilities
It's Still The Economy, Stupid
In Week Before Labor Day, Pointless
Palin's No Shrinking Violet
Danger Signals
Palin's Learning Curve
Obama Off-Balance from Palin Flip-Flops on O'Reilly
Johnny's Got A New Girl
Martha's Big Adventure - Enquiring Minds Want to Know
Abstinence Education Is Still A Good Idea
Crying Wolf On The Economy While Ignoring Real Perils
The Dems Do Denver
JFK: Democrats' Role Model?
Palin, Pregnancy And The Pulpit
Sarah's Choice
Convention(al) Reflections
Farewell To An American Hero
The New Life of The Grand Old Party
Want Real Change? Quit Nominating Lawyers!
Harper's Index
Don't They Have Birth Control Up In Alaska?
Professor Bush's Economic Nostrum
Saving The GOP And The Unbearable Lightness of Being Sarah Palin
Building The Bridge
Married Liberals With Children
Mosdirection In Minnesota
Logical Consequencse
Which Ticket Really Will Deliver Change Voters Want?
The Perfect Stranger
Game On: Let The Race Begin
Michelle Obama: Family-Values Feminist -- Or Phony?
The Role of A Lifetime
What's So Terrific About Mccain's Palin Pick?
The Four Stages of Conservative Female Abuse
Later Conventions Make For A Strange Election Season
Stick With Sarah
'RomneyCare' Should Keep Mitt Off McCain Ticket
Most Sarcastic Campaign Ever
Report From A Forgotten War (4th in a Series)
McCain Comes Through
Confessions of A Third-Rate Sexist
Mccain Veep Criterion: 2 'X' Chromosomes Are All That's Needed
On Shooting Taggers: Why Conservatives And Liberals Differ
Mccain Wants Moose Hunter In White House
Me For President
Welcome Back Dad
A Human-Resources Handbook
Palin's Gender Alone Won't Sway Women Voters
The RNC's Unconvention
Palin's State Reaps The Windfall Profits McCain Decries
Finally, We Care About A Teen Pregnancy
McCain's Best Way
Palin Has Tall Mountain to Climb
McCain Palin Can Join the Club -- Interview with Pat Toomey
What Standards?
Blind Defense of Koran Abrogates Reality
We've Come A Long Way, Baby
Impulse, Meet Experience
Gustav's Silver Lining



Martha Randolph Carr
Happy Fourth of July
Martha Randolph Carr 7/3/2008
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Martha’s Big Adventure - Happy 4th of July

By Martha Randolph Carr

This holiday weekend every town in America big or small is celebrating that we ever came into existence at all. We can whoop it up in amazement that 232 years later we’re still here. A lot of differences we have with each other are put aside and we focus on our gratitude instead of our gripes. This year with the news about the economy and the ecology and foreign relations all being equally miserable the reminder of what we have to give thanks for is even more important.

A lot of us have had to rein in our plans to something close at home and curtail any kind of driving around town. Rather than elaborate plans that involve cramming kids and equipment into the car for a long haul we’re all being forced to look at options that take less than a gallon of gas round trip and maybe a lot more walking.

We could feel sorry for ourselves that our choices have thinned out from last year or we can take all of this from a different angle. As a country, let’s start appreciating what’s close at hand and become a part of a local celebration. When I was a kid in the suburbs of Lafayette Hills, Pennsylvania, just outside of Philadelphia, my siblings and I took part in the local parade put on by the volunteer fire department. My oldest sister, Diana, now a