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The July 4th Holiday was a very busy and very fun day for me. We spent the morning and early afternoon in Morristown NJ covering a "Tea Party" rally with between 3750-4250 people in attendance. It was an impressive turn-out I thought. The people were there to protest ever increasing spending, debts, taxes, bailouts, and the move toward becoming a socialist country by what they consider to be an out of control, intrusive Government.

There were many impassioned speakers ranging from politicians, to "ordinary citizens", to a surgeon, an author, a veteran, a whole host of people from all walks of life. I am waiting for confirmation of the names of the speakers from the organizers of the rally. When I get that info I will post it here.

I just got the list of speakers which I am just going to copy and paste into the post below.

11:00am: Invocation Deacon Tim Holden

Pledge of Allegiance

Star Spangled Banner Rob Kastner

11:10am Opening Remarks Rich Luzzi

11:12am Salute to the Armed Forces Paul Albanese Corp. USMC

WWII Vet: Corp. Curtis Glenn Army

Korea Vet Capt. Thomas Tierney USMC

Viet Nam Vet Lt. Col.. Michael Shield VN/Gulf

Major Robert Elton

Iraq War Nathaniel Putnam Specialist

Donald Backer Specialist

Moment of silence for fallen soldiers

11:22am History of The Green Maryann Franzese

11:25am Charles M. Payne

11:40am Assemblyman Richard Merkt

11:45am Mayor of Morristownship: Mr. Scott Rosenbush

11:50am Rep Candidate for Mayor of Morristown Mr. Jimmy Gervasio

11:55am Cap and Trade Speaker Mr. Tom Adkins

12:10pm Reading of the Declaration of Independence

12:20pm Citizen Speaker Matt Perez

12:28pm Gubernatorial Candidate Mr. Kaplan

12:35pm Assemblyman Mr. Michael Patrick Carroll – did not show

12:45pm Healthcare Speaker Dr. Alphonse DiGiovanni

12:55pm Fair Tax Speaker Linda Terczak

1:00pm Citizen Speaker Polina Maire did not speak

1:05pm Citizen Speaker Flagman does not want his real name used

1:10pm Poster Contest

1:15pm Closing Remarks Ralph Franzese did not speak

1:20pm Song: God Bless America

To see more images from the rally view the slideshow here. All images in the slideshow were shot from 200-400mm and other than possibly being cropped are unedited.

After the rally we got a bite to eat in town and then went home to unload the photos. We decided on the spur of the moment to go the Macy's 4th of July fireworks on the Hudson River. We took the train to Hoboken. We got there around 4:30PM, spent the afternoon in town eating, having a couple of adult beverages, enjoying some nice conversation and company at one of the wonderful little outdoor cafe before staking out a place on the Steven's Campus on the hill overlooking the Hudson River to view the fireworks. It turned out to be a pretty good location for viewing them especially since we went very last minute. It was not nearly as crowded as the waterfront along Sinatra Drive and we found a seat on the grass on the hill which was pretty comfortable. We staked out our spot pretty late at around 7:45 PM. I got some good photos considering I wasn't really thinking we would be in a great location since we got there so late. There was a utility pole and a lamppost in our line of sight and I left my remote in my other bag...DOH! I do have a few shots I will share just the same. All I can say about the show is...WOW!!! It was spectacular.

I have loaded a slideshow of images from the Macy's Fireworks which you can see here.

Nikon D700
Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 VR w/Nikon 2x teleconverter
1/125 second
F/13.0
ISO 500
400 mm

Check out my new slideshow page. The link is here and at the top and bottom of every page. I am testing out several formats for the slideshows each with their own advantages and disadvantages. It will be an evolving process and I will add new ones from time to time. I hope you will stop by and check them out and feel free to leave me some feedback.

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I took this shot peeking over the dune fences at Risden's Beach in Point Pleasant on one of the few "nice" days we had in June...nice being a very relative term since the weather in June was pretty much a complete wash-out. Maybe July will be better.

I hope everyone who is celebrating has a great time at the BBQ's or on the beach and watching the fireworks. But most of all I hope everyone stops and remembers what our great nation was founded on and the sacrifices made in the name of Liberty and Freedom from Tyranny. Remember these important words and defend them:

IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

Nikon D700
Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 VR w/Nikon 2x teleconverter
1/1250 second
F/5.6
ISO 200
250 mm

Check out my new slideshow page. The link is here and at the top and bottom of every page. I am testing out several formats for the slideshows each with their own advantages and disadvantages. It will be an evolving process and I will add new ones from time to time. I hope you will stop by and check them out and feel free to leave me some feedback.

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With the 4th of July Holiday weekend fast approaching I thought it would be nice to post some hopeful images of nice summer days on the beach. Unfortunately those days have been precious few so far this year with record cold temps and record rainfalls in June. Will July finally usher in summer? I don't know but here's hoping! On the upside I have yet to turn on my air conditioning.

This was shot last weekend in Asbury Park. I was happy to see the boardwalk and the beach busy. It seems that Asbury Park is fighting to regain some of it's former glory. We saw some wonderful cafe's on the boardwalk and a funky beach bar and they were all quite busy even though the weather was not 100% glorious and rained on and off during the day. In fact if you look closely you can see where it is raining off in the distance over the water in this shot.

We saw some unique places on the boardwalk, one a glass blowing place called "Hot Sand" where you can design your own molten glass cast in sand among other things. I have a couple of photos from there which I will post later. It was a very cool shop. Another was a pottery place where you can learn to throw your own pots. I did not have time to go in but I am planning to go back and check it out.

Nikon D700
Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 VR
1/320 second
F/11.0
ISO 360
70 mm

Check out my new slideshow page. The link is here and at the top and bottom of every page. I am testing out several formats for the slideshows each with their own advantages and disadvantages. It will be an evolving process and I will add new ones from time to time. I hope you will stop by and check them out and feel free to leave me some feedback.

I want to take a moment to express my sympathies for the people of Iran during such turbulent times. I hope and pray that they have their voices heard and that the terrible violence against them is ended. I am including some links in this post at the request of a fellow photoblogger.

http://onlymehdi.aminus3.com
http://photoblog.com/onlymehdi
ONLYMEHDI