JULY
3, 2006 --
This
is the time of year to thank our Founders for
creating the USA.
Consequently, this edition of LPR will refrain from
wondering how long it will be until "oil experts" blame
the next gas spike-hike on the northeast's recent heavy rainfall.
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For
crying out loud …
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Nor will this LPR posting
dwell on the failure, thus far, to find ten state or
federal officials to speak out against credit card
interest rate bullying by some banks. (LPR will,
however, note that ten good people could not be
found in Sodom and Gomorrah.)
Last week, Republicans lost a bid to ban flag-burning
by constitutional amendment. Senator Edward M.
Kennedy reportedly said that the amendment loss was a
win for fundamental freedom.
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Our
flag
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LPR asks clicksters to please look at the posted photo
of an American flag -- a relatively small flag,
photographed as it was attached to a lamppost in
Hudson, N.Y., last summer.
Perhaps in place of a
proposed constitutional amendment -- Republicans and
Democrats, liberals and onservatives, and the rest of
us, should just ask -- what kind of person would want to
burn this flag? Isn't this flag our NATIONAL symbol?
If we can agree on this point, is it unreasonable to
conclude that a flag-burner is a person who wants harm
to come to
our nation, our country?
For LPR at least, the "fundamental freedom" to
destroy our national symbol
does not call for a round of applause.
LPR was disappointed to hear some rather coarse
political remarks on
Anti-Republican Radio (ARR), remarks suggesting that
ARR perhaps would use the term "classless society" figuratively.
LPR was also disappointed to hear the president's
press secretary recently suggest how necessary it was
for Republicans to hold their congressional
majorities. The president is the country's national
chief
executive (even when it is campaign season).
It seems
reasonable to conclude that the president's press
secretary ought to take a national,
not a partisan, approach to public issues.
Should the electorate, in November, declare a plague
on both parties, it will be fair turnabout; the
parties, self-absorbed, seem to wish a plague on the
people (except for a few days in campaign season).
The photos in this edition of Lonely Pamphleteer
Review immodestly
aim to reflect aspects of the American Spirit that
was praised by James Madison in Federalist 57.
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No
rain-delayed tours.
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Broadway
lights
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LPR
congratulates the NYC sight-seers who would not be
deterred by rain, the morning of June 26, to
tour Manhattan. For LPR, the soft colors of a small
town reflect the American Spirit no less than the
bright lights of an urban center.
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Summer's
soft light
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(LPR admits that
some street repair occurs in urban areas -- but perhaps
not as quickly as the American Spirit would prefer.)
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A
camera's eye …
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The entertainment and fashion worlds are examples of
the American Spirit -- even if the latest Superman movie
does not endorse, in particular, "the American way."
Could we have Broadway and fashion
without freedom, without risk-taking, without
unrestrained optimism?
The photos showing Donna McKechnie, "The Jersey Boys," Jane
Krakowski, Jane with Michael Cerveris and Hal Prince and Liza
Minelli
were taken at the June 26 "Broadway Under the Stars" {BUTS)
concert.
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Donna
McKechnie
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Jersey
Boys
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Jane
Krakowski
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Jane
Krawkowski with Michael Cerveris
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Hal
Prince with Liza Minelli
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BY
LPR's count, this was the fifth
annual BUTS evening -- the first held on Central Park's
Great Lawn. (The previous BUTS concerts were held
at Bryant Park -- along Sixth Avenue and between 40th
and 42nd streets, behind the main branch of the New
York Public Library -- and where Fashion Week assembles.)
The
photos of "The Jersey Boys" softball team and Shuler
Hensley were taken in Central Park's North Meadow, where the
Broadway Show League played its June 29 games.
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Team
Jersey Boys
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