We're going to live on! We're going to survive! Today we celebrate our Independence Day!

Spending this fourth of July in the nation's capital, I figured I ought to take a walk around and look at some things. The obvious place to go was the national mall, where all of the important monuments are located. Security was really tight, so it was more of a challenge than I had anticipated. There were also lots of people who looked like the people to the left - people who were extremely proud to be American.


Here I had arrived at the national mall. As you can see below, the Washington Monument is reflected very nicely in the "reflecting pool". It did not reflect my image nearly as nicely, because it's actually the dirtiest, most stagnant body of water I've ever had the displeasure of seeing. I guess it was nice enough, though.


Next I went to the Lincoln Memorial. I was spending some time admiring Abe and readin' some speeches, minding my own business, when a Southern couple walked past me. I overheard their conversation, which I wrote down using the only paper and utensil I had, a brown Smithsonian brochure and a highlighter.

Woman: "This man was like GW...he had a lot of problems during his administration."
Man: "Well, at least he didn't pull a Bill Clinton, did he?" [laughs]

It's true, I compare the Civil War to the war in Iraq all the time. Also, I don't see any reason why Abe would have needed to "pull a Bill Clinton"; I understand Mary Todd was quite the strumpet in her day.




Next, I walked further down along the reflecting pool, where I came across a lesser-known monument, dedicated in 1931 in memory of the residents of the District of Columbia who died in World War I. Like everything Herbert Hoover ever did, it has been forgotten or glossed over, or, in the case of this monument, kept out of the public view by a small forest.




This is the new World War II memorial, dedicated in 2004. It's located on the opposite side of the reflecting pool from the Lincoln Memorial. I was taking some pictures of it up close, minding my own business, when I was whistled at by a guy from the National Park service who asked me to leave, as "the monuments were closed", and then shooed me out of the national mall. How many of you were kicked out of a national park today?


HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY! AMERICAAAAAAAA!!