Presidential Star Spangled Banner.

Wishing you a Happy 4th of July. Hopefully, you are enjoying a three-day weekend, whether you got Friday off or whether you still have Monday off to look forward to. It’s a great weekend for festivities — at least where I live. The weather is quite nice.
Enjoy a simple, straightforward rendition of the Star Spangled banner by the United States Marine Band in honor of the day. Then, watch the video from JibJab and ThePartyParty.com. It’s an amusing take on the Banner, with former presidents saying words that can be used in the national anthem.
Happy 4th of July!

What Calvin Coolidge Really Said:
Calvin Coolidge, the only U.S. president born on July 4, is famously quoted as saying, “The business of America is business.  Here is what President Coolidge really said, in a speech called “The Press Under a Free Government” in 1925:
“After all, the chief business of the American people is business. Of course the accumulation of wealth cannot be justified as the chief end of existence.“
In the last paragraph of the speech Coolidge said:
We make no concealment of the fact that we want wealth, but there are many other things that we want very much more. …read more

July 4th is among the most frugal of holidays.

Just like last summer, AAA is predicting a significant drop in the amount of travelers that will drive for more than 50 miles away from home. AAA blames this on a sudden increase in the price of gasoline and a general lack of disposable income in many households across the country, mostly due to the weak economy.
Whereas 37.8 million people hit the roads last year to celebrate Independence Day in a different location, AAA predicts that only 37.1 million people will travel by car this year. This means that 2 percent of all people that traveled for July 4th last …read more

images from Microsoft Clipart & http://www.webweaver.nu/clipart/ reconstruction by Ren Garcia