I’m sure there are millions of parties tonight and we have many reasons to celebrate, but I don’t have the energy to celebrate even the alternative event of the reading of the Declaration of Independence tonight.  The museum has a big sign in its front window pointing out its relationship to the document.  It has everything we need to be the basis of the Constitution.  How did we not finalize a constitution in all these 75 years?  

And I’ve got a cold – the weather keeps changing on me and I never notice until it’s too late.  So I was standing at the bus stop on a windy corner with a whole bunch of soldiers, and they were talking about memorial day and their concerns about participating in ceremonies.   It was clear that all were very patriotic, but they were worried – very worried – about getting their uniforms in order.  You know that it is the responsibility of the soldiers to keep their uniforms clean and pressed – that’s why they go home every week with the laundry.