Laws Were Made For Bush To Break

PLUS: The CDC’s got some sick spending habits...The White House pulls some Gitmo slight-of-hand...Wal-Mart goes nuclear...Dracula’s castle is a charming 35 bdrm with vaulted ceilings and a spacious interior...Yawning’s the ticket to straight-A’s...and enough Fourth of July trivia to make Thomas Jefferson envious. Today is July 4th, and this is Mic Check. We’re proud to be from the home of the brave.

Celebration Excuse

Happy Birthday, USA!

1776

The United States declares its independence.

1826

Founding Fathers Thomas Jefferson and John Adams both die on the same day.

1831

Founding Father James Monroe dies

1845

“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.” Henry David Thoreau moves to Walden Pond.

1881

Billy The Kid is killed in New Mexico

1884

France gives the Statue of Liberty to the United States.

1910

America’s first black heavyweight, Jack Johnson, knocks out Jim Jeffries, a boxer who’d retired five years earlier rather than face him.

1939

Upon his retirement from baseball, the legendary Lou Gehrig tearfully tells fans, ‘’Today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the Earth.'’

1959

Update your flag! A 49th star is added to Old Glory in honor of Hawaii.

1960

Update your flag! The 50th star is added to Old Glory in honor of Hawaii.

1970

The debut of Casey Kasem’s American Top 40 show. Keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars.

EAT MORE CAKE

1804: Author of The Scarlet Letter, Nathanial Hawthorne

1826: The guy who wrote “Camptown Races” and “Oh! Susanna,” Stephen Foster.

1872: “Silent Cal” Coolidge, 30th president of the United States.

1930: George “The Boss” Steinbrenner, owner of the Yankees

1943: “Journalist” Geraldo Rivera

Daybook

POTUS

Bush celebrates the Fourth of July away from Washington, in Martinsburg, West Virginia.

STUMPIN’

Senator Barack Obama and his family get patriotic at Independence Day celebrations in Oskaloosa, Pella, and Beaverdale, Iowa.

Senator Chris Dodd walks in the Norwalk, Iowa parade, then party-hops at other Iowa celebrations.

This should be interesting…Mitt Romney and former President Bill and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton march in the Clear Lake, Iowa Independence Day Parade.

Romney keeps right on marching, in Fourth of July parades in Ames and Waukee, Iowa, as well.

The Clintons hold events later in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Senator Joe Biden marches in the Urbandale, Iowa Independence Day Parade, speaks at a veterans home in Marshalltown attends a house party in Des Moines and speaks at a Democratic fundraiser in Sioux City, Iowa.

Gov. Bill Richardson marches in the Merrimack and Amherst, N.H. Fourth of July Parades, holds a town hall in Goffstown and attends fireworks in Nashua.

ON THE HILL

Nothing like a nice fireworks display after a long day of…not making laws. Congress is still in recess, but the bombs start bursting in air at 9:10 pm on the National Mall.

TV TIME

Tune In At Work

The View: (Repeat) Jordin Sparks,

Regis and Kelly: Petra Nemcova, Aly & AJ
Ellen DeGeneres: (Repeat) Kelly Clarkson, “

Stay Up Late

Jay Leno: (Repeat) Ne-Yo

Late Late Show: (Repeat) Wanda Sykes, Tina Brown, Bobby Valentino

Conan: (Repeat) Robin Williams

Letterman: (Repeat) Rosie Perez

 

Eavesdrop

It’s the Fourth of July. Rest your ears from the talking heads and listen to a little music, courtesy of YouTube.

Masthead

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Mic Check is produced every weekday by Christy Harvey, Sara Langhinrichs and Nicole Murphy, and is a project of the Center for American Progress Action Fund. Read more about Mic Check.

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