Posted on 07/01/2012 3:48:13 PM PDT by carlo3b
Thankfully I was born an American. Born in the greatest nation in the history of the world. But I became an American, slowly and decisively over my entire life, and these were but a few of my moments of decision;
When my 92 year old great Grandfather, an immigrant for the bowels of depravity in Italy stood in a crowded church basement and took the pledge of allegiance to his beloved country to finally become a citizen, after struggling to overcome illiteracy and poverty, and raise a fine and honorable family. He had to study and take the test to prove he knew enough about this country and it's founding and history and government to qualify to contribute to it's greatness. At the conclusion of the ceremony, he broke down and cried for the first and only time I ever remember in his distinguished life. At that moment I remember thinking it must be special to be an American.
When my 4th grade teacher, the first and only black person, man or woman at that time, with courage enough to enter the forbidden bigotry of my Little Italy neighborhood, called me into the hallway to tell me that I must hurry home because my beloved grandfather had just been rushed to the hospital. My eyes must have shown my utter horror of that moment. She grabbed me and held me tightly to her breast for what was the single most important thing I needed in the whole world. I remember thinking I loved this brave woman, that found her way into my life in this great land. I remember being thankful I was in America.
I remember when General Mac Arthur, passed my gathered family, standing and waving our Flags, we had waited for hours to get a glimpse of our heroes', in a ticker tape spectacular parade honoring the ending of World War II, and he turned and looked at ME, and smiled. I was breathless, and oh so proud to be an American.
I remember another parade, where leaders of the procession, were the last remaining soldiers, surviving the civil war. These 10 or so old men and 1 woman, in their faded uniforms, from both sides of the conflict, walked slowly past a wildly cheering crowd, I broke away from my aunt and uncle (he a vet from WWI) and handing my small flag to one of those patriots. When I returned to the sideline I was kissed by a total stranger. You can bet I was so very proud to be an American.
I remember being chosen to recite the Preamble to our Constitution at the school assembly celebrating Memorial Day. We had spent the entire year learning the history of this glorious land in our 5th grade class. All the bravery and struggling it took to scratch this wonderful country into existence. I messed up at one point during my oration, and the principle leaned over and whispered the forgotten word, and winked at me and smiled. I finished to an applause, and bowed and looked at our flag and gave thanks the ordeal was over and that I was proud to be a good American boy.
There was a not so proud moment when this county's greatness came into my focus. I had broken a window playing stick ball in the middle of the street, and ran like the dickens to hide before we were caught. I hugh Irish Chicago Police officer came to our door during dinner that night, he asked if I would step out side. My mom told me to hurry and followed me to the stoop where a few of my friend were already in what looked like custody. We were asked if we had done the deed, I looked at my mom in shame, then at my friends who were looking at their shoes, and answered yes. He took us to the police station, and made us listen to a lecture about the poor old folks that had to scrap their nickels and dimes to repair our damage, and asked if we were willing to work off the damage, instead of the electric chair, which we were sure was the other option. We were made scrub the headstones and statues of fallen patriots at our Memorial cemetery, and that the local Vets would replace the window in repayment. We did it happily and proudly, only my folks and the parents of the others made us do it every year from that point until we graduated from high school. I read those names every year, and seeing the new ones that were being added during the Korean conflict, some of which were the family members of own friends. I remember crying silently at the loss, and yes dear God I was proud to be an American.
On my 18th birthday, I stood tall at the induction center and while reciting my oath, and allegiance to my country, I remembered all those things. I left home for the last time, I was finally a real man, and given the opportunity to say to my country Thanks from my grandpa, my family, my neighborhood, and all of those that had given all of this to us. I was proud to serve my country, and to this day I thank GOD I have a country like America to give what I could, including my life if necessary. Yes, I am an American.
There are so many more things that have happened in my and our lives to fortify my belief in this great nation...
However, I doubt the current pols, that control the agenda, are going to limit their power base, even if we capture control of the congress in this election cycle..
Give us 2 more elections, with TEA PARTY candidates, knocking off the moderates in our party, we might see a motivation to enact some of these changes..
I am more optimistic about a systematic dismantling of the welfare state if we achieve a major blow-out this November..
Democrats really believe that the people who run the department of motor vehicles or government schools (Like a high school principle etc.) will be able to provide the cutting edge technology and diagnostics to save our lives. Add to that government rationing , waiting lines of months etc. and you see that you or your loved ones will die( and suffer) in one of those lines or from getting inferior treatment from one of these government doctors. government/socialism doesn’t work.
Look at the totalitarian goofballs like school teachers and staff and imagine those creeps trying to find cutting edge treatments, cutting edge technology , to save your life when you need it fast and efficiently and competently. Democrats really prefer this than to have freedom of choice and freedom.
Before I could go to any doctor in the U.S. , of my choice and if I didn’t like his treatment or if he didn’t cure me then I could find another. And I paid a whopping $250 per month for this health insurance. now that’s pretty low when you consider rent for an apartment is $800 per month, payments and insurance for a car is close to that $600 etc.. Yeah democrats want to be cheap and think they will get something for free. What they’ll get is 2 years on a waiting list for what for garbage care. And we already had medicaid, medicare for the poor and elderly, also some free state hospitals here in this state. No this wasn’t enough for democrats.You have taken away freedom of choosing your doctor.
In the free market you can choose from thousands of doctors . but soon you can only go to a doctor that the government tells you . And if you don’t like him well too bad. democrats/liberals/socialists are insane.
2700 pages of government control , bureaucracies, death panels, a taking a way of freedoms. Anyone who upholds this socialism and government control was never a conservative. Roberts and other liberals think all this will be better to have government control us more and to lose our freedom. Se we’ll pay 22 new taxes to be put on a waiting list for 2 years so a DMV doctor tells us there is nothing wrong with us ( as happens now in England). And liberals are celebrating this. Now they can tax us to control everything we do or don’t do. This is not freedom , socialism doesn’t work. Europe is in decline and so is the U.S. all due to the democrats/socialists and the media
Democrats really believe that the people who run the department of motor vehicles or government schools (Like a high school principle etc.) will be able to provide the cutting edge technology and diagnostics to save our lives. Add to that government rationing , waiting lines of months etc. and you see that you or your loved ones will die( and suffer) in one of those lines or from getting inferior treatment from one of these government doctors. government/socialism doesn’t work.
Look at the totalitarian goofballs like school teachers and staff and imagine those creeps trying to find cutting edge treatments, cutting edge technology , to save your life when you need it fast and efficiently and competently. Democrats really prefer this than to have freedom of choice and freedom.
Before I could go to any doctor in the U.S. , of my choice and if I didn’t like his treatment or if he didn’t cure me then I could find another. And I paid a whopping $250 per month for this health insurance. now that’s pretty low when you consider rent for an apartment is $800 per month, payments and insurance for a car is close to that $600 etc.. Yeah democrats want to be cheap and think they will get something for free. What they’ll get is 2 years on a waiting list for what for garbage care. And we already had medicaid, medicare for the poor and elderly, also some free state hospitals here in this state. No this wasn’t enough for democrats.You have taken away freedom of choosing your doctor.
In the free market you can choose from thousands of doctors . but soon you can only go to a doctor that the government tells you . And if you don’t like him well too bad. democrats/liberals/socialists are insane.
2700 pages of government control , bureaucracies, death panels, a taking a way of freedoms. Anyone who upholds this socialism and government control was never a conservative. Roberts and other liberals think all this will be better to have government control us more and to lose our freedom. Se we’ll pay 22 new taxes to be put on a waiting list for 2 years so a DMV doctor tells us there is nothing wrong with us ( as happens now in England). And liberals are celebrating this. Now they can tax us to control everything we do or don’t do. This is not freedom , socialism doesn’t work. Europe is in decline and so is the U.S. all due to the democrats/socialists and the media
God bless you, Carlo.
I’m happy to be back my Dear FRiend.. had to return for the cause.. LOL.. :)
I sat and read some of our old threads, with all of our fun during the dark ages, and couldn’t stop laughing.. Oh well, time goes on.. Good seeing you and God Bless you and yours.. :)
Thank you Jane, I spent today telling my grandchildren about my recollections of the early days of our Republic, (first hand account), and I had to raise and lower my voice to keep them awake.. Ha! Have a great 4th my dear FRiend.. :)
Oh Tube, I love you too my dearest FRiend, I sure miss the Good ole days.. Have a great holiday, eat a lot, and kiss the family for me.. :)
Just imagine being born in Istanbul, or somethin.. GASP!
God Bless America
Bless you Jim, and Thank you for all you do for our Country and your many FRiends.. Have a wonderful 4th, and my very best to your fine family.. Carlo
Thank you so much, and thank you for the sacrifice of your fine family.. We all need each other to fight this assault on our way of life.. VOTE.. :)
WOO HOO.. Hey sweetie, HUGGS backatcha.. LONG TIME NO SEE.. Miss ya cute stuff.. swoon.. :)
A Chicago Legend
In Chicago...eating pizza is a dining experience, not just a snack as in most places. But it wasn't always that way. Ike Seawell changed things back in 1943 when he created deep dish pizza. (Some folks call it Chicago Pizza.)
This recipe was adapted from the book The Frugal Gourmet Cooks American by Jeff Smith. Jeff wrote that "I have tried to figure out how it's done at Pizzeria Uno and I think that I'm very close. I ran my recipe by Mama, a gorgeous black woman who has been cooking pizzas there for thirty years, and she smiled and nodded. You can't get much better than that!"
Dough Recipe
2 packages rapid rise dry yeast
2 cups warm water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
4 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup cornmeal
5 1/2 cups flour
In the bowl of a stand mixer (e.g. KitchenAid), dissolve the yeast in the water. Add the vegetable oil, olive oil, cornmeal, and half of the flour. Beat for 10 minutes. Attach the dough hook and mix in the remaining flour. Knead for several minutes with the mixer. (Note: because the dough is very rich and moist, it would be difficult to do this by hand.)
Remove dough and place on a clean countertop. Cover with a very large metal bowl and allow to rise until double in bulk. Punch down and allow to rise again. Punch down a second time and you are ready to make pizza!
Oil your deep-dish pizza pan. Depending on the size of your pan, place some dough in the pan and push it out to the edges using your fingers. Put in enough dough so that you can run the crust right up the side of the pan. Make it about 1/8-inch thick throughout the pan.
Filling for a 9- or 10-inch Pan
1/3 pound sliced mozzarella cheese
2 cups Italian-style whole peeled tomatoes, drained and squished
1 teaspoon basil
1 teaspoon oregano
2 cloves garlic, minced Salt to taste
3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
3 tablespoons olive oil
Place the cheese in tile-like layers on the bottom of the pie. Next put in the tomatoes and the basil, oregano, garlic, and salt, reserving the Parmesan cheese for the top. Drizzle olive oil over the top of the pie and you are ready to bake.
Variations: Before you put on the Parmesan cheese and olive oil drizzle, you might like to add any or all of the following:
Italian sausage, hot or mild
Yellow onions, peeled and diced
Pepperoni, sliced thin
Mushrooms, sliced
Green sweet bell peppers, cored and sliced thin
Bake the pie in a 475°F oven until the top is golden and gooey and the crust a light golden brown, about 35 to 40 minutes.
Well stated, sir. Worth repeating.
THANK YOU JIM FOR FReerepublic, GOD BLESS YOU AND ALL OF MY FReeper FRiends..
I hope everyone had a GRRRREAT Independence Day!
Hey, Sweetie!
Good to hear from you again!
I don’t come to FR much any more, so I’m just now seeing this. Hope you had an ahhhhsome 4th!
HUGGG
Hey Sweetheart, WOOHOO.. It’s been a long, long time indeed.. I’m on the warpath again, fighting the forces of evil that have invaded our country.. HA! Stay close, I might need BACKUP!!! .. HUGGGGGGGGGS
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