THE ARTSY SITE OF THE MONTH:
Corporate Doodles
Business meetings are good for something after all.

pendingPERSONAL HOME PAGE OF THE MONTH:
Marlon L. Buchanan's Crib
Very nice use of text and graphics, and I just felt at home here.

WEB PAGE DESIGN SITE OF THE MONTH:
All Things Web: The Value of Usability
Is your site doing what you want it to do for the most people?

SEASONAL SITE OF THE MONTH:
Symbols of the Republic: Bastille Day
The French Revolution has lessons for each of us.

JUST FUN SITE OF THE MONTH:
Funny Feline Photos
Cats amusing all of us, or at least most of us.

DOWNRIGHT SERIOUS SITE OF THE MONTH:
Census Bureau Population Clocks
I can't think of anything to say that we haven't already heard.

HISTORICAL SITE OF THE MONTH:
Idaho History Web Sites
Presented by the Idaho State Historical Society.

July Events

For July Travelers

July 10-11, 1999
Walla Walla Sweet Onion Blues Fest
Fort Walla Walla Park, Walla Walla, Washington.
Run/Walk, onion games, jazz, blues and dixieland music.
More Information: Call 1-877-WWVISIT.

July 10-18, 1999
Maine Potato Blossom Festival
Various locations, Fort Fairfield, Maine
Celebrating the great potato plant--this festival is now in its 52nd year. Pageants,
softball, potato-picking contest, bicycle rodeo, annual industry dinner (by reservation
only), pancake breakfast, recipe contest, golf, mashed potato wrestling, human chess game,
food, music, other entertainment.
Further Information: Call 207-472-3802.

July 10-25, 1999
Falway Arts Festival
Various locations, Galway City, Galway, Ireland.
Millennium Drum Carnival, parades, pyrotechnics displays, theatre, comedy, art, music,
children's events.
Further Information: Call 353 91 583800 or 353 91 56594 /562611.

July 17-18, 1999
Santa Barbara French Festival
Oak Park, Santa Barbara, California.
In its twelfth year, the festival mirrors Bastille Day celebrations, with music, mimes,
jugglers, and food from dozens of fine chefs.
More Information: Call 805-564-PARIS.

July 23-25, 1999
Quick Chek New Jersey Festival of Ballooning
Solberg Airport, New Jersey.
Children's entertainment, petting zoo, arts and crafts, food and drink, over 100 hot
air balloons in mass ascension, music from Marcia Ball, Blood Sweat and Tears, and more.
More Information: Call 1-800-HOTAIR9.

June 20-27, 1999
Covent Garden Flower Festival
Covent Garden Market area, London, United Kingdom
Plant and garden products sales, arts and entertainment, demonstrations, floral displays,
garden designs, special focus on contemporary design and garden for the urban dweller.
Further Details: Call 44-171-735-1518.

Believing that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legislative powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their Legislature should "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," thus building a wall of separation between Church and State (Letter to the Danbury Baptists, 1802).

To suffer the civil magistrate to intrude his powers into the field of opinion and to restrain the profession or propagation of principles on supposition of their ill tendency is a dangerous fallacy which at once destroys all religious liberty, because he being of course judge of that tendency will make his opinions the rule of judgment and approve or condemn the sentiments of others only as they shall square with or differ from his own (Statute for Religious Freedom, 1779).

I enjoy living in the United States, where I am able to move freely between states, own property and possessions, bear arms if I so choose, and speak my mind regarding issues. But what I enjoy most is religious freedom. Each freedom comes with responsibilities, and I realize that if I support freedom of religion in the U.S. I must support it for all. That means I support it for the Episcopalian, the Jew, the Satanist, the Hindu, the Southern Baptist, the Muslim, the Witch, the Pagan, the Roman Catholic, the American Indian, the Buddhist, the Christian Scientist, the Atheist, and all the rest.

My personal comment on the current state of freedom of religion in the USA:

I'm willing to accept the fact that freedom of religion must also mean freedom from religion for those who choose.

I'm not in favor of government's intrusion into private beliefs, especially when it means imposing any particular religion's code or creed on those of other religions, or on agnostics, or on atheists (or on anyone else I've missed).

It is for this very reason that I am very unhappy with the recent Federal decision involving posting the ten commandments in public school classrooms.

Whether it is true or not that most religions have some form of code or belief similar to the ten commandments, the interpretation of that code should be left up to the individual United States Citizen And if an individual chooses no religion, what right does the Federal government have to insist he or she attend a school which sponsors an openly religious list?

Even if an individual chooses a religion of one kind or another, displaying the ten commandment in a classroom is the government's way favoring one religion (in this case, Christian) over another. This was the very kind of thing our founding fathers worked to prevent in the early days of the formation of the United States government.

This is not the same as an individual child choosing to pray (or not) over his or her meal, or to pray (or not) at the taking of a test. It is a move led by, and sanctioned by, the leaders, the adults, the governing body, and is therefore, unconstitutional.

I certainly hope the Supreme Court remembers its job and that its members uphold the U.S. Constitution soon on this matter.

Real, constitutional freedom of religion isn't freedom of religion unless it's for everyone, everywhere in this country.

And now...
Please join me in celebration of Independence Day.

WARNING: This celebration is a very graphics-intensive link!
Graphics credits for the celebration are given in the section below.

Graphic Hunters of the World, Take Note!
The graphics for our Independence Day celebration (including all the red and blue stars) were thankfully borrowed from these sites:
bellsnwhistles.com, Liberty Image Gallery, Image O Rama, Kids Domain, and Beard Brothers.
All other graphics on this page (except the Home and email graphics below) are original.
If you want to use any for your non-commercial page, please do.
A thanks on your page
or even a link back to this page would be great.
Do drop a line or two of email so we can and see your page.

Deb's Monthly Review is copyrighted!
Do be a dear and ask before you lift whole portions of the Special Review or something.

Remember! Those of us who publish on the web are not saying our work is in the public domain.
When in doubt about your use of someone's else's writings or graphics, ask!
If you want to use graphics or text on a commercial page, contact me first, please, and we'll work something out.

Please don't link back to the graphics on my pages - copy them to your own server! Thanks!

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January 1999 February 1999 March 1999 April 1999 May 1999 June 1999

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