Given by His Excellency, President Kevin Baugh
On the Occasion of the Twenty-Eighth Anniversary of the Founding of the Republic of Molossia,
May 26th, 2005 XXVIII
Fellow Molossians, honored guests greetings.
Twenty-eight years ago Molossia was born, a small idea between friends. Today our nation one of the greatest small nations on earth, a source of pride to ourselves and a role model across the world. We have achieved much and we have much for which to be proud.
This past year has been one of many wonderful accomplishments, large and small. Early last summer a bit of Molossia, a small rock, was examined by NASA as part of their Rock Around the World program. It gave us great pride to participate is this program and show off a piece of Molossia to the world. In August, Molossia was proud to take part in the Intermicronational Olympic Games, which were hosted this year by Mahina and Shireroth. This was an excellent event and we are pleased that what we started in 2000 what has proven to be an enduring and outstanding international activity. Beginning last fall, the Bank of Molossia issued two coins, first the One Valora and then the Five Valora. These coins have become fairly popular internationally and have been sold to collectors around the world. Last winter, our government showed its dedication to protecting our environment by ratifying the Kyoto Protocol. We remain committed to this treaty, and pledge continued positive stewardship over the Molossian and the world ecosystems.
We sustained a gain and a setback in our pursuit of the Juniper Hill colony. We first obtained the Colony late last year, and it was well-received as a boon to our small nation. However, it proved to be too much of a financial burden to our treasury and we were forced abandon our claim. This was a setback, but not an insurmountable one. As always, we move on. In December we confirmed our commitment to public health by banning smoking in Molossia. In January, we received the good news that a crater on Venus has been named after the First Lady, Lisa Baugh. This caused great great excitement throughout our small land, and we consider it to be a true compliment that her name was chosen from among many. We have subsequently created a symbolic territorial administration and a claim to that area of Venus, the first such extraterrestrial claim made by our government. Also in January, I was honored to be interviewed on the radio by Dave Wetmore of G106.3, a station in New Jersey. This was our first radio-based interview, and yet another opportunity to showcase Molossia to the world. I feel that it went very well, and introduced our nation up to a whole new audience. In April, we opened our first online theater, hosting silent movies made in Molossia. This has been a source of great entertainment, and demonstrates the great creativity that can be found here in our nation. Finally, this spring has seen the completion of them massive Norton Park remodeling project. This project has taken four months to complete, and has transformed this neglected park into a place of beauty and enjoyment. We are quite proud of what we have accomplished there.
With these accomplishments behind us, we continue to look ahead to a bright future. We also look back on a proud heritage. Ours has been a path of struggles, failures and triumphs. We take from each of these things and learn, and use them as tools to better ourselves, and to prepare ourselves for whatever the future may hold.
And so, I close this speech with the knowledge of who we are, who we have been and hopes for who we will be. Molossia is a great nation, and has only the brightest of futures. Let us go together into that future, a future bright with promise and hope.