By Parminio
July 4 2003

From that first day on, the United States has done it all. There's nowhere we haven't been, no one we haven't fought and nothing we haven't done. We've been involved in 12 major wars inclusive of our own revolution. We've put a man on the moon. We've had a stock market crash that saw soup lines and shanty towns. We've defeated 2 of the strongest empires ever to grace the earth. We've lost to a country smaller than South Carolina that didn't even have an Air Force or a Navy.

In short, we've done it all. We've had the highest of ups and the lowest of downs...all in a very short period of time. Through it all though, we've somehow managed to come out on top with our heads still on our bodies.

So I would like to thank some people that made the United States what it is in one way or another...some by being American, some by simply inspiring Americans. Thanks to:

George Washington, Ben Franklin, John Paul Jones, John F. Kennedy, George Patton, Dwight Eisenhower, Winston Churchill, Dan Gurney, Phil Hill, Mohamed Ali, George Brett, Dan Marino, Walter Payton, Ronald Reagan, George Bush, The New York City Police and Fire Department, General Norman Schwartzkoff, Stephen King, Mark Twaine, Mario Andretti, Dale Earnhardt, Richard Petty, Dale Murphy, Bob Horner, Phil Nekro, Nolan Ryan, Emitt Smith, Dan Fouts, Carrol Shelby, John Force, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., James Brown, Chris Cornell, Jimmy Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Queen Elizabeth, Pricess Diana, Field Marshall Erwin J.E. Rommel, The Dali Lama, Chief Sitting Bull, Wild Bill Hickock, 'Doc' Holliday, John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, Paul Newman, Randy Rhodes, God, Jesus, Mother Theresa, Pope John Paul II, and my Father.

I can't cover everyone...but those pop to mind. Happy birthday USA and thanks to those that made it great!