Happy 4th of July!

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"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."

-- from the Declaration of Independence

Some texts never get old.


AS AMERICAN AS APPLE PIE? A PLUG FOR
NOAH'S REMEMBRANCE OF MICHAEL JACKSON



For anyone who missed Noah's post yesterday on Michael Jackson, I'm thinking the holiday may be the perfect time to relax and let it sink in.

Noah cuts through the hack media coverage to reflect on what remains important to him about MJ as both a person (of the rarefied subspecies "celebrity") and a performer. Obviously I'm biased, but I found the piece not just insightful but thought-provoking and seriously moving. It certainly doesn't resemble any of the endless gibberish I've been unable to avoid hearing on the subject since the news broke of MJ's death.

In addition, I wonder if you were aware that the now-legendary Thriller video, whose appearance on MTV may fairly be said to have changed the face of American pop music, almost never made it to MTV. At the time, the fledgling network didn't show videos by, um, people like Michael Jackson -- an excruciatingly uncomfortable way of avoiding saying that they didn't show videos by black artists. Not many people know how that barrier was overcome; Noah offers an insider's view.


HOWEVER YOU'RE SPENDING YOUR 4TH --

Make it a happy and healthy one. Thanks for making DWT part of that day, and come back for the rest of the day's schedule of posts! -- Ken

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