Happy Birthday America

"i86hotdogs" (i86hotdogs) 09/17/2020 at 08:15 • Filed to: None

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September 17, 1787 was the date the Constitution was signed by the people for the people. Even though July 4th*, 1776 is the emancipation from British rule, I consider 9/17 to be the real start of this country.

*Final signatures for the Declaration of Independence occurred August 2, 1776

It’s also my 28th anniversary rotating around the sun. Coincidence?

Send vans if ya got em!

haveacarortwoorthree2 > i86hotdogs 09/17/2020 at 08:22

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pip bip - choose Corrour > i86hotdogs 09/17/2020 at 08:24

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happy birthday!

(thank Stef Schrader for this song, she alerted me to this mob)

MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s > i86hotdogs 09/17/2020 at 08:25

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Coincidence?

Maybe, maybe not. But either way, it was definitely a mistake. :)

Tripper > i86hotdogs 09/17/2020 at 08:31

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Wacko > i86hotdogs 09/17/2020 at 08:37

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BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind > i86hotdogs 09/17/2020 at 08:44

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1787, there, boss.

Happy birthday!  It’s all downhill after 27, though. 

nFamousCJ - Keeper of Stringbean, Gengars and a Deezul > i86hotdogs 09/17/2020 at 08:49

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Ill never pass up an opportunity to post the OG RT  Caravan

vondon302 > i86hotdogs 09/17/2020 at 08:51

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C ongrats on another successful lap of the sun. 

Maxima Speed > i86hotdogs 09/17/2020 at 08:55

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Happy Birthday! Its also my 28th birthday!

Just Jeepin' > BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind 09/17/2020 at 08:58

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Thanks, I knew 1781 looked wrong. Heck, the war wasn’t over.

ranwhenparked > i86hotdogs 09/17/2020 at 08:58

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Technically, we didn’t achieve independence until September 3, 1783, when the Treaty of Paris was signed to officially end the American Revolution. It’s one thing to declare independence, actually attaining it is an entirely different matter and a rather long war had to be fought first. But that was the document in which Great Britain recognized the independence of the United States, renounced all claims to territory in the US, ceded all land  between the Mississippi and the Alleghenies to the US, and returned Florida to Spain. Basically cutting off the entire lower half of British North America.

Snuze: Needs another Swede > i86hotdogs 09/17/2020 at 09:07

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Congratulations on another lap around the sun, and may you make many more successful revolutions.  

ttyymmnn > i86hotdogs 09/17/2020 at 09:08

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In 1787 I’m told.....

i86hotdogs > BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind 09/17/2020 at 09:16

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Yup, typo on my end

i86hotdogs > Maxima Speed 09/17/2020 at 09:17

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Hey ha ppy birthday buddy!

i86hotdogs > Tripper 09/17/2020 at 09:17

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That’s what I’m talking about!

i86hotdogs > nFamousCJ - Keeper of Stringbean, Gengars and a Deezul 09/17/2020 at 09:18

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Dodge: Let’s put a non functional hood scoop on every on of our models.

Me: yes please

i86hotdogs > ttyymmnn 09/17/2020 at 09:18

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Yup, typo on my end. My bad!

i86hotdogs > Wacko 09/17/2020 at 09:19

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I’m confusingly scared and aroused at the same time.

i86hotdogs > ranwhenparked 09/17/2020 at 09:20

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Valid point there. You’re definitely right, I just have some bias towards today :)

ttyymmnn > i86hotdogs 09/17/2020 at 09:22

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N ot pointing out the typo, just the lyrics. I learned the Preamble as a kid watching this on Saturday mornings. 

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > i86hotdogs 09/17/2020 at 09:22

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i86hotdogs > ttyymmnn 09/17/2020 at 09:23

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Same here; history teacher just put this on repeat until it stuck with us forever. 

i86hotdogs > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com 09/17/2020 at 09:24

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Oh she’s pretty

benn454 > Tripper 09/17/2020 at 09:24

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Let’s not forget the OG:

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > ranwhenparked 09/17/2020 at 09:29

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And it was a totally different thing to actually get Britain  to honor that in practice.

ttyymmnn > i86hotdogs 09/17/2020 at 09:30

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Written by Lynn Ahrens , who also sang it.

Kiltedpadre > i86hotdogs 09/17/2020 at 09:32

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Happy birthday!

I’ll never pass on an opportunity to post a picture of a street van with a bitchin mural!

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > i86hotdogs 09/17/2020 at 09:38

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Happy birthday, old sport! 

InFierority Complex > i86hotdogs 09/17/2020 at 09:42

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Have a Lancia Jolly

Brickman > nFamousCJ - Keeper of Stringbean, Gengars and a Deezul 09/17/2020 at 09:42

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Here is the original original R/T Caravan. Only made in concept form

i86hotdogs > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 09/17/2020 at 09:44

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I can imagine them being pretty grumpy about losing the initial war and refusing to admit it.

i86hotdogs > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 09/17/2020 at 09:45

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That Previa hits me in all the right places

i86hotdogs > Kiltedpadre 09/17/2020 at 09:45

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Side pipe everything

Just Jeepin' > ttyymmnn 09/17/2020 at 09:47

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There are some interesting subtleties I didn’t pick up on as a kid, like the one character who tries and fails to vote early on looks like a girl who can’t reach the ballot box; of course, when I first saw that I didn’t know women weren’t allowed to vote.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > i86hotdogs 09/17/2020 at 09:54

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Previa taxis are out t here, man.

And the HY vans are there too. Never give up.

A Boy and His Longtail > i86hotdogs 09/17/2020 at 09:55

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Happy birthday!

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > i86hotdogs 09/17/2020 at 09:57

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It was years before the US managed to oust all the British troops from the frontier and it was much longer before they got Britain to respect them on the high seas. They almost went to war again several times over British ships firing on or kidnapping American trading vessels and their sailors.

i86hotdogs > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 09/17/2020 at 10:07

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I knew they quarreled for years (War of 1812), just didn’t know (or wasn’t paying attention in class that day) about the treaty of Paris

i86hotdogs > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 09/17/2020 at 10:08

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Never will!

ttyymmnn > Just Jeepin' 09/17/2020 at 10:22

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I just thought it was a kid. But I think you’re right. Notice also how the racial makeup of the jury boxes changes over the years. 

Svend > i86hotdogs 09/17/2020 at 10:24

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If you saw the Ogmios, Zen Motoring part 3 posted video posted the other day (you’ll find it on YouTube easily enough under Zen Motoring part 3), on here, the sheer number of Toyota Prius’ and Toyota Previas in the video done in London is amazing, both UKDM and JDM.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > i86hotdogs 09/17/2020 at 10:25

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It’s fascinating. American requests to remove British troops from the frontier were continually ignored and it was years before they finally cleared the frontier of British posts. 

Britain was stopping American trading ships on the high seas and impressing their sailors to serve in the British navy and/or on merchant vessels. And they were charging excessive duties and port fees if they allowed American ships in their ports at all. Then American ships started flying French flags to try to get around it but that still didn’t quite work and made France angry. No one in Europe was really respecting this new upstart country’s international rights. 

ranwhenparked > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 09/17/2020 at 10:27

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And several territorial disputes we still have with Canada today are relics of that

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > ranwhenparked 09/17/2020 at 10:30

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Yes, the crown really complicated things. Well, that and us attacking Quebec for absolutely no reason. It was a weird time for everyone. 

ranwhenparked > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 09/17/2020 at 10:35

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I think we thought that if we burned down a couple villages, they would agree to join us or something.

Kiltedpadre > i86hotdogs 09/17/2020 at 10:36

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The only way they could be better would be if I could see if the pipes are  connected to ch-ch-ch-ch-cherry bombs!

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > ranwhenparked 09/17/2020 at 10:38

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Well didn’t we also decide to attack it during the winter? We must have had some sort of Napoleon complex going on or something because we were really Russian it. 

ranwhenparked > i86hotdogs 09/17/2020 at 10:50

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They kept troops in frontier forts well beyond the deadline for removing them, and got into constant territorial disputes with us over where Canada ended and the US began (complicated by the comparatively imprecise surveying abilities of the time). Then you had the whole sailor impressment issue. We were a comparatively weak, post colonial country, they were still the world’s top super power, so they felt free to either recognize or ignore our sovereignty based on what was convenient for the situation at hand.   

CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever > i86hotdogs 09/17/2020 at 11:16

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it’s a van, fight me! or just take this:

facw > ranwhenparked 09/17/2020 at 11:39

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Disagree, why would British recognition matter? 

facw > i86hotdogs 09/17/2020 at 11:40

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Basically identical to the Previa I used to have.

ranwhenparked > facw 09/17/2020 at 11:55

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Because their troops were physically occupying most of our territory, and they were recognized by most of the world as the legitimate government, making it impossible for the US to conduct relations with most countries. If declaring independence was all that mattered, then the Confederacy was a legal independent state, too. And for that matter, so was Chechnya. A country has to both declare independence and actually achieve independence in both physical (control over claimed territory) and legal terms (recognized as such by other countries) in order to actually become independent. We were regarded by most of Europe as British territories in a state of domestic disturbance until then.

I mean, you could post a statement on Facebook declaring your house and backyard to be a sovereign, independent country separate from the United States, but unless the United State somehow agreed to let you get away with that, good luck doing anything with that in practice.

i86hotdogs > CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever 09/17/2020 at 12:05

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I’ll never argue on that. I’d love one of those Fords

Chariotoflove > i86hotdogs 09/17/2020 at 12:26

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Happy birthday. Here is a recreational vehicle for you, depending on your idea of recreation.

i86hotdogs > Chariotoflove 09/17/2020 at 13:09

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the badge isn’t clear enough but I hope that’s rockin the Triton V10.

Chariotoflove > i86hotdogs 09/17/2020 at 13:11

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Yes, let’s go with that.

BoxerFanatic, troublesome iconoclast. > i86hotdogs 09/17/2020 at 13:49

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Thank you for that historical context.

Happy Birthday, USA, and Happy birthday i86hotdogs, too!

Hopefully she regains a sense of herself when her people re-establish their aggregated sanity.

Not collective sanity, as only some individuals have lost theirs in thinking that violence can bring peace, or that racial division and villification can end racism. or that draconian economic destruction and social isolation can effect the spread of biological factors over time. or that Authoritarian Marxism can ever work.

Not all individuals have gone that direction. Probably far less than is portrayed in media and social media, and threatened with cancel culture (which is itself antithetical to liberty and freedom.)

This isn’t a collectivist society, no matter what fraction of the population may think that historical failures of collectivism can be escaped this time... or they want such a failure to occur.

It is time to remember what America actually is, and not let perfection, or the lack of perfection be the enemy of goodness and peaceful coexistence, with liberty and justice for all.

That is an ideal to be strived for, not a static state of being that has ever been acheived, or that should be vilified for not having been achieved by imperfect people.

“A more perfect union” is not an objectively perfect union, it is relatively better one than it was yesterday, and will hopefully be better yet again tomorrow.

BoxerFanatic, troublesome iconoclast. > BoxerFanatic, troublesome iconoclast. 09/17/2020 at 14:00

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American van in Japan, or mid-engined japanese van (might be in America? ...) either way, cool.

onlytwowheels > i86hotdogs 09/17/2020 at 19:40

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Happy birthday!

ZHP Sparky, the 5th > i86hotdogs 09/17/2020 at 19:58

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Remember the design of this thing being so revolutionary when it first came out...looks so innocent compared to today’s vehicles. The spec on this particular picture looks pretty damn nice too.

Happy birthday!