Excerpts from “Jeff and Cyndi’s Excellent Adventure and History Trip” on Sunday, July 12, 2009
The village of Logstown (also Logg's Town, French: Chiningue pronounced Shenango)
was a significant Native American settlement in Western Pennsylvania in the years
leading up to the French and Indian War. The original village was settled by Shawnees,
possibly as early as 1725, on low-lying land on the north bank of the Ohio River, near
present-day Ambridge, Pennsylvania, Beaver County, Pennsylvania. As part of their effort to claim the Ohio Valley, around 1747, the French built about 30 log cabins, some with stone chimneys, on a plateau above the original Logstown village. The French turned over the cabins to the Native Americans. Only 18 miles downriver from present-day Pittsburgh, Logstown predated the French fort there, Fort Duquesne, by at least seven years. Logstown, therefore, became an important trade and council site for the French and Native Americans, as well as, ironically, the British.
Downstream (to the northwest) of Logstown, is Beaver, PA, which came to be located at
the site of Fort McIntosh. General Lachlan McIntosh built Fort McIntosh during the American Revolution in 1778 on a commanding plateau above the Ohio River at what would become the town of Beaver, Pennsylvania. He was assigned by General George Washington as Commander of the Western Department of the Continental Army.
Constructed in 1778, it was the first fort built by the Continental Army north of the Ohio
River, as a direct challenge to the British stronghold at Detroit. It was the headquarters of
the largest army to serve west of the Alleghenies. Its purpose was to protect the western
frontier from possible attacks by the British and from raids by their Native American
allies. The fort, large for a frontier setting, at one time had a garrison of about 1,500 men.
Point of Beginning [from “Measuring America,” by Andro Linklater, 2002 ]
“East Liverpool, Ohio, sits on the banks of the Ohio River just outside the PA border. On
the road above the Bell Company’s dock, PA Rt. 68 invisibly changes to Ohio Route 38.
The place could hardly be more anonymous–even for someone familiar with the
historical significance of the spot. A stone marker carries a plaque headed “The Point of Beginning” that reads, “1112 feet south of this spot was the point of beginning for surveying the public lands of the US. There on Sept 30, 1785, Thomas Hutchins, first Geographer of the US, began the Geographer’s Line of the Seven Ranges.”
from a Findlay, Ohio reader

Monthly Budget Review, July 2009 - Based on the Monthly Treasury Statement for May and the Daily Treasury Statements for June:
"The federal budget deficit was $1.1 trillion for the first nine months of fiscal year 2009, CBO estimates, more than $800 billion greater than the deficit recorded through June 2008. Outlays are 21 percent higher than they were in the first three quarters of 2008, but revenues have fallen by 18 percent. The estimated deficit reflects outlays of $147 billion for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), recorded on a net-present-value basis, and spending of $83 billion in support of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac."

New GAO Reports: Clean Air Act, Water and Biofuels and Electricity Production, Formula Grants, TARP
Clean Air Act: Preliminary Observations on the Effectiveness and Costs of Mercury Control Technologies at Coal-Fired Power Plants, GAO-09-860T, July 09, 2009
Energy and Water: Preliminary Observations on the Links between Water and Biofuels and Electricity Production, GAO-09-862T, July 09, 2009
Formula Grants: Census Data Are among Several Factors That Can Affect Funding Allocations, GAO-09-832T, July 09, 2009
Military Base Realignments and Closures: DOD Needs to Update Savings Estimates and Continue to Address Challenges in Consolidating Supply-Related Functions at Depot Maintenance Locations, GAO-09-703, July 09, 2009
Troubled Asset Relief Program: Status of Participants' Dividend Payments and Repurchases of Preferred Stock and Warrants, GAO-09-889T, July 09, 2009

On November 16, 1776 the American Brig-of-War, the "Andrew Doria", sailed into the harbor of Statia firing its 13-gun salute indicating America's long sought independence. The 11-gun salute reply, roaring from the canons at Fort Oranje under the command of Governor Johannes de Graaff, established Statia as the first foreign nation to officially recognize the newly formed United States of America. http://www.statiatourism.com/history.html

A possible derivation for Yankee is from the Dutch first names "Jan" and "Kees." "Jan" and "Kees" were and still are common Dutch first names, and also common Dutch given names or nicknames. In many instances both names (Jan-Kees) are also used as a single first name in the Netherlands. See other theories at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yankee

Trivia
Over 1000 beers are made in Belgium.
Apostrophes seen in Europe include sushi’s, pasta’s, pizza’s, sneaker’s, cookie’s.
The Netherlands is probably known as Holland because in the 17th century, the region of Holland was heavily populated and travelers called themselves Hollanders. Today, Holland is split into two regions (North Holland and South Holland). All twelve regions/provinces are listed at http://www.amsterdam.info/netherlands/provinces/
Most early Europeans could not read, and statues and commercial signs were like “cartoons” or marketing tools to communicate stories or denote particular businesses.
The 40-mile stretch of the Rhine River between Koblenz and Mainz has 28 castles perched along its heights. The castles enabled feudal lords to protect their lands and control trade routes.
Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany was copied for the centerpiece of Disneyland.

July 14 is France's national holiday that commemorates the storming of the Bastille in 1789. The Bastille was a fortress in Paris that had been a place where political dissidents were sometimes held for arbitrary offenses at the command of the king. But on this day in 1789, the fortress-prison housed only seven prisoners and none of them were actually political dissidents. Still, for the French people, the Bastille had become a symbol of the royal tyranny they needed to overthrow. Revolutionaries gathered at the base of the fortress in the morning, and just after lunchtime they stormed the Bastille. After hours of bloody skirmishes inside the fortress, 98 of the revolutionary attackers had died and only one of the fort's defender guards had been killed. But the French government's commander, fearing an all-out massacre, had surrendered. It was a catalyst for other events of the French Revolution: Soon, feudalism was abolished, and then the "Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen" was proclaimed. One year after the anniversary of the storming of the Bastille, the French established the holiday "Fête de la Fédération," or Feast of the Federation, to celebrate the successful end of the French Revolution, with a constitutional monarchy they'd just established. A few years later came the Reign of Terror, in which French citizens executed Louis XVI and his wife, Marie Antoinette and other fellow French citizens. And then in 1799, Napoleon Bonaparte seized power and declared himself emperor.
July 14 marks the 14th of July Revolution in Iraq, celebrating the day in 1958 in which the Iraqi military overthrew the King of Iraq. It was a military coup to replace the monarch, King Faisal II. King Faisal was largely propped up by the British government, making and upholding alliances with the British that Iraqis resented. The Writer’s Almanac