Happy Independence Day
This is not the first time in our adult life that we are proud of our country. Accordingly, we are pleased to wish you a Happy Fourth of July.
ATL won't be publishing today in observance of Independence Day. Enjoy the three-day weekend; we'll see you on Monday.

Michelle Obama for FIRST Lady!
Have a good weekend and pour out some beer for your expatriated brethren who have neither fireworks nor hotdogs.
Happy Fourth, Lat
guys in my high school used to celebrate the fourth of july all the time, it was no big deal.
Which country is it that you're proud of Lat? I thought you were a flipaninno.
talk about flogging a dead horse.
Now I'm voting for Obama just to piss off Lat
OBAMARAMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
What's with the fallic monument and two testicle fireworks?!?
What's a "flipaninno"?
And what's a "Lat"?
Lat, get over it.
Fireworks tonight would be the best way to celebrate the death of Jesse Helms.
12:43 - nice.
The story is obviously automated - they have the exact same Indep Day "story" on Dealbreaker
http://dealbreaker.com/2008/07/happy_independence_day.php
LOL, ty for the Michelle Obama jab
LOL. It gives me great pleasure that his wife is going to sink Obama's run...
11:30 - go stick your head up McCain's a**
Good job Lat for calling it like it is. . .
The fact that Jesse Helms is dead has made it a truly happy Fourth.
here, here. jesse helms dying is like the heavens giving america a birthday present.
The fireworks in NYC are being shot from our apartment complex. It's kind of loud. Fun loud.
Lat is a liberal. He is just anti-Obama i.e. "Hillary is delicious".
Wasn't there a Daily Show skit recently about Barack Obama being elected president and Cindy McCain being elected as first lady?
7:28, 7:49: You are both sickening, but your reaction is not surprising coming from socialists who hate American values. Still, hard to understand how left-wing scum like you can live with themselves knowing that conservatives would never react in this manner to the death of a liberal icon.
Fed Soc
Great article ! I really enjoy reading your posts.
thanks, Rechtsanwalt
http://www.ag-anwaltspraxis.ch
1:06 - I am as liberal as they come, and I too, have a bit of distaste for the venom that has been spewed on the internets in response to Helms's death. But you have to admit, Helms was a hell of a lot more than a conservative "icon." He was the last of a breed of extremist, racist, hate-mongering politician whose ilk stained our political history for all too long (yes, I know there are plenty of other distasteful politicians with extreme views, but none who can hold a candle to Jesse). I don't rejoice in Helms's death - but I do think he may be in for a bit of harsh judgment if indeed there is an afterlife.
http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=1871
I believe the actual quote was "really proud" - such that MO left room for the interpretation that she was merely "proud" of her country previously on her adult life. Such parsing almost surpasses the previous Dem president's debate over the definition of "is."
guys in my high school used to celebrate the fourth of july all the time, it was no big deal.
guys in my high school used to celebrate the fourth of july all the time, it was no big deal.
guys in my high school used to celebrate the fourth of july all the time, it was no big deal.
guys in my high school used to celebrate the fourth of july all the time, it was no big deal.
guys in my high school used to celebrate the fourth of july all the time, it was no big deal.
guys in my high school used to celebrate the fourth of july all the time, it was no big deal.
guys in my high school used to celebrate the fourth of july all the time, it was no big deal.
guys in my high school used to celebrate the fourth of july all the time, it was no big deal.
guys in my high school used to celebrate the fourth of july all the time, it was no big deal.
guys in my high school used to celebrate the fourth of july all the time, it was no big deal.
guys in my high school used to celebrate the fourth of july all the time, it was no big deal.
guys in my high school used to celebrate the fourth of july all the time, it was no big deal.
guys in my high school used to celebrate the fourth of july all the time, it was no big deal.
guys in my high school used to celebrate the fourth of july all the time, it was no big deal.
The true character of an individual(s) is never more evident than when someone who is an ideological polar opposite suffers in some way or passes from this earth.
God bless us that we live in a country, unlike in the EU, where you can compare someone to a Nazi and not be criminally prosecuted.
1st Amend rocks!
guys in my high school used to celebrate the fourth of july all the time, it was no big deal.
guys in my high school used to celebrate the fourth of july all the time, it was no big deal.
guys in my high school used to celebrate the fourth of july all the time, it was no big deal.
guys in my high school used to celebrate the fourth of july all the time, it was no big deal.
guys in my high school used to celebrate the fourth of july all the time, it was no big deal.
guys in my high school used to celebrate the fourth of july all the time, it was no big deal.
guys in my high school used to celebrate the fourth of july all the time, it was no big deal.
guys in my high school used to celebrate the fourth of july all the time, it was no big deal.
guys in my high school used to celebrate the fourth of july all the time, it was no big deal.
5:55--Yeah, right. This is a political war. Get over it. Fed Soc and others like him who are just "shocked" at the deserved celebration of that bigot's passing will undoubtedly be popping the champagne the next time some liberal giant bites it.
Helms was undoubtedly not a perfect man, but he was no more imperfect than is Ted Kennedy. When Kennedy was diagnosed with his tumor politicians of all stripes had kind words for both he and his family...and rightly so.
In the words of Michael Savage...liberalism is indeed a mental disorder. There is no doubt about that.
Lat, why did you not cover this prestigious moot court competition which features Clement in a bubble?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pp-C_xjSiI
8:31 a.m.: Jesse Helms was most certainly not a "racist, hate-mongering politician". Whether he was extreme depends on where your center is; given how far to the left the country has moved in recent years he may qualify as extreme by today's standards. I will agree with you that he was (unfortunately, in my view) one of a last breed of politicians, and yes, he was controversial, adamant (sometimes overly so) about his views, and at times racially insensitive. But let it be said that the racial imagery that Helms used (in the notorious 1990 political add, for instance) was used as a response to an opponent who himself sought to implement policies that would create preferences based on race. It should not be deemed to be racist to offer a race-based response to a policy that is itself based on race-based preferences.
4:32: You are out of your mind if you think that Christians think that way. But keep projecting your hate on others if that gives you some self-worth.
11:12: The comparison between Helms and Kennedy would have been stronger had Helms also killed a woman, but you do make a good point.
"Compromise, hell! ... If freedom is right and tyranny is wrong, why should those who believe in freedom treat it as if it were a roll of bologna to be bartered a slice at a time?" -- Jesse Helms, 1959
Fed Soc
Does anyone know if guys in 10:59's high school celebrated the fourth of july? If so, was it a big deal?
Guys in my high school occasionally felt proud of our country. It was no big deal.
Hello 12:42 - as a North Carolinian whose memory goes farther back than 1990, I can assure you that Senator Helms was most certainly a racist. Your historical gloss is tedious and only undermines your credibility.
My glee that Helms is dead does not come from the fact that he and his family are suffering an ideological desert. It's glee that the world is free of a hateful man with political power. It is a happy day.
8:56 - I lolzd.
9:03: The Wall Street Journal editorial page affirmed that Jesse Helms was most certainly not a racist. I suppose this undermines the WSJ's credibility as well.
9:43: Jesse Helms had no political power since his retirement from the Senate in 2002, and his death will have no political impact. I note that, by contrast, the death of John Paul Stevens or Ruth Bader Ginsburg would result in a tremendous amount of good for the state of the law and the nation, and as such, joy over their deaths would be eminently more defensible than joy over Helms' death. Yet I certainly would not rejoice at their death, and I know of no conservative who would.
Fed Soc
Yep. Librulz are just hateful, vindictive little turds trying to make their hate look good. 8 years of impotence can do that to you.
12:42 "You are out of your mind if you think that Christians think that way. " Sorry, but you're completely wrong. Did you happen to catch any of the gleeful speculation over George Carlin's death? Many comments along the line of "maybe he's a believer now that he's in hell yuk yuk yuk." It was all over the internet. Vindictive, spiteful, hypocritical, disgusting. So just shut your righteous trap about Christians not gloating over a death. You're a step worse than them because you know they do it, yet you deny it.
Please stop feeding the Fed Soc troll, rookies.
Fuck yourself Lat.
And Fed Soc -- the WSJ editorial page is a joke. Helms has a long, long history of ugly, virulent racism for which he never apologized. His passing rids our country of another vestige of an ugly, ugly past.
Is it wrong to celebrate an anniversary of Brown v Board? Of Loving v Virginia? Or MLK day? No -- our country very recently was marked by a campaign of ugly, vicious, hateful and violent repression against a minority. Concentrated in, but certainly not limited to, the South, this campaign was typified by politicians like Helms. Had he ever shown an ounce of regret for his past statements and positions, his passing would be mourned differently.
As relevant for this site -- Helms worked tirelessly to prevent *any* African American from being appointed to the 4th Circuit, blocking Clinton's nominee Roger Gregory for years. One of GW's few solid acts was to spit in the face of the old NC racist, accept that Helms's behavior was reprehensible, and nominate Gregory again.
I only wish Helms could have lived through November, to witness America elect its first black pres!
9:57, you must be retarded, then.
12:19 wishfully assumes the Senate wouldn't just block a Bush replacement for JPS or RBG until January, then let President Obama appoint the replacement. But actually, it would. You would gnash your conservative teeth and tear out your conservative hair, and it wouldn't change the fact that your ideology is fast descending in the minds of the American public, and soon to be swept from power for the next eight years at a minimum.
And Helms was a disgraceful, racist, bigoted piece of shit. If you want an appropriate Kennedy comparison, try William F. Buckley, whose death was met with respect across the political spectrum, despite the fact that he was a conservative standard-bearer for decades. Open racial bigotry is, quite rightly, the place where our country draws the line. Fall on the wrong side of that line, and no one is under any obligation to pretend that you were ever a worthwhile human being, or to disguise their open glee upon the occasion of your death.
Well stated, 2:17!
Did you plagiarize http://dealbreaker.com/2008/07/04/ :-(