How The Ambassador of Boom Celebrates Independence Day

Posted on June 28, 2022 at 4:06 PM by The Biker Lawyers

From Ambassador of Ammo to Ambassador of Boom

This week no guns but given we’re upon the Independence Day holiday I thought the Ambassador of Ammo would morph into the Ambassador of Boom because a lot of BOOM was necessary to bring us the freedoms we enjoy.

First, how did I get to this point…

I received an invitation from one of our Rock 108 Listeners, Ethan, and his significant-other Melody, to join them for Atalissa Town Day fireworks which he promised me is quite an event.

Now, being one who is quick to judge (and being a person who is often difficult to get out of the house), I gave them a solid “maybe”.

One of my big concerns because as I just stated, I do tend to judge, was that a little town like Atalissa couldn’t possibly have much of a fireworks show. Why am I going to drive for an hour just to be disappointed?

But, after a late afternoon nap and a cup of Joe, I made a snap decision to travel an hour south to Atalissa.

Best decision I’ve made to leave the house in a while. 

Atalissa, Iowa Puts on one hell of a show!

Atalissa knows how to do fireworks! Maybe the best I’ve seen (and long- almost an hour) Everyone gathers outside the firehouse, on what seemed like a multi-use grassy area– Maybe a town square but also the back yards of several homes.

I have never been so close to the launch site for an Independence Day (or any) fireworks show.

How close?  I could sometimes feel the heat of the blast.  Debris fell on us with every violet flower and twinkling star that unfurled in the night sky.  A flaming rock of fireworks scree landed on my shirt. Lighter smoky debris and ash were constantly raining down too — we were in the action!

Explosions filled my entire field of view, as my smell-sense was overcome by the black-powder smoke and debris fell on me.

My mind wandered to 1814 when the attorney, Francis Scott Key, witnessed a twenty-five-hour siege and bombardment at Fort McHenry on that faithful night in the Chesapeake Bay fending off the Britts, and to the next morning when he wrote the Star-Spangled Banner.

Francis Scott Key’s Original Star-Spangled Banner

It turns out that the original full Star-Spangled Banner that Key penned was quite a bit different than the version we’ve come to know. Of course, we still sing the first verse, but did you know there were actually a few more? Here’s the full 4-verse version from The Smithsonian:

O say can you see, by the dawn’s early light,

What so proudly we hail’d at the twilight’s last gleaming,

Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight

O’er the ramparts we watch’d were so gallantly streaming?

And the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air,

Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there,

O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave

O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

Verse 2

On the shore dimly seen through the mists of the deep

Where the foe’s haughty host in dread silence reposes,

What is that which the breeze, o’er the towering steep,

As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?

Now it catches the gleam of the morning’s first beam,

In full glory reflected now shines in the stream,

’Tis the star-spangled banner – O long may it wave

O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Verse 3

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore,

That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion

A home and a Country should leave us no more?

Their blood has wash’d out their foul footstep’s pollution.

No refuge could save the hireling and slave

From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave,

And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave

O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Verse 4

O thus be it ever when freemen shall stand

Between their lov’d home and the war’s desolation!

Blest with vict’ry and peace may the heav’n rescued land

Praise the power that hath made and preserv’d us a nation!

Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,

And this be our motto – “In God is our trust,”

And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave

O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

The Great American Experiment

So, as we fought to gain independence from a tyrannical foreign government, we also developed a revolutionary new form of government— a new type of democracy; a representative democracy where the government works for and represents the people.

Until the great American experiment, all governments (even the democracies) were a form of tyranny– even if it was the tyranny of the majority against a minority class (as most democracies were and still are).

So here we are 246 years later. Let’s not revert to what we fought so hard to separate from.

This July Fourth, let’s talk about our founding. How America is the most successful, multi-racial, diverse country on earth. The greatness of the American Experiment is and always will be a fight worth fighting for.

We The People

As we go through our very public quarrels keep in mind, that we’re one of the few places on earth where it’s even allowed to have these discussions because ultimately, the government still has a rightful fear of — We The People!

About Russ: The Biker Community’s Ambassador of Ammo

Known as a professional Radio Gypsy, Russ is the voice of “crazy stories and bad behavior” on Rock 108 every weekday from 10 AM – 2 PM (CST). After a shooting expedition with friends, Russ found a new passion for firearms and is now searching to find the perfect fit to match his needs. Join him as he tests and reviews various guns and targets, learns gun safety, and occasionally blows stuff up every week right here!

Make sure to subscribe to this blog for email updates when Russ posts a new experience!

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