Thursday 17 September 2009

Greetings and Salutations to All my Kith and Kin and All the Ships in Outer Space: Be sure to click on that famous painting by Howard Chandler Christy, to see a larger view. Thursday 17 September 2009 will be the two hundredth and twenty-second anniversary of the signing of the CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. Are YOU planning any sort of observance or celebration? Here in the Washington, D.C. megalopolitan area, there will be a PUBLIC COMMEMORATION at the Hyatt Arlington Hotel in Arlington, Virginia. At first, I thought I might attend that event, but I just remembered that underground parking garages in this area do not provide adequate vertical clearance for full sized four wheel drive pickup trucks, which is what I drive. Around here, they only accommodate "politically correct" little bitty cars. So, if I go, I reckon I'll have to take a taxicab. To the best of my knowledge, we residents of the Armed Forces Retirement Home have NEVER acknowledged or celebrated Constitution Day, which does seem a bit odd. Isn't it about time we START doing it? Maybe our mess hall could serve a special meal, and/or our theatre could show a special movie, and/or our recreational department could arrange some appropriate activity. Nearly all of us, whether military or civil service, at one time in our lives, publicly swore a solemn oath before Almighty God, that we would uphold and defend our nation's divinely inspired CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA against all enemies, both foreign and domestic. No one has ever released us from our obligations to keep that oath. How many of us have actually sat down, read the CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, and pondered its significance? Please, let's not waste this opportunity, and ignore a momentous historical event. Consider sharing this information with your own circle of acquaintances and relatives, so that the word might be spread abroad. Thank you. John Robert Mallernee Official Bard of Clan Henderson Armed Forces Retirement Home Washington, D.C. 20011-8400 NOTE: "My unpopular and controversial personal opinions are independent of my Scottish clan."