Where I'd rather be every Fourth of July: The Gay Parade.
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My Indiana neighbors haven't caught on to the fact that they can stop shooting. We won that war. In the U.P. personal fireworks are illegal. No one wants to burn the peninsula down. The sheer brain power of the Yooper population astounds me.
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Two more weeks and I'll be picking wild blueberries on the lakeshore with the black bears while Jojo does her wolf tracking thing! Bring it on. The hardest decision I have to make is whether or not to bring the yellow lab.
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Ah, summer.
10 comments:
I live in a lake town where well-off Chicago folks spend their long holiday weekends, along with all of their kids and grandkids. So it has been a battle field here every night all week. But I'm not complaining too much. I'd rather it be like this, than the government tell us one more thing we can and can't do.
Oh, I'm complaining. In fact, I welcome some government intrusion. It spares me the trouble of taking those fireworks and shoving them up my neighbor's ass, who doesn't have the intelligence to have me present my arguments elsewhere.
Not to mention the fact that a few years ago one of those fine fireworks killed one of my grandmother's friends, who was innocently sitting in her lawn chair in her backyard, not at the fireworks party, when she was hit in the head.
Maybe one night a year would be fine, but a week? A month? Give me a break.
And two, maybe those fireworks distributors would like to pay for all the animal tranquilizers that have to be prescribed during the month of July.
Or perhaps they could reimburse me for lost sleep.
No, sir. I don't like them. I am the home fireworks Grinch.
But, as usual, I'm glad to have given you an opportunity to express your political views ;-)
It hasn't really gotten a lot worse, I admit. And I suspect Indiana will eventually tighten up or at least enforce the current laws.
The biggest thing I think of when I see fireworks is what a waste of money they are. I am all about people celebrating their patriotism, and being proud to be American, but I just think of the millions and millions of dollars spent on fireworks by cities when there are children right here who go hungry every day.
I think it would be cool if we could have one national celebration with the fireworks, and save the rest of that money for something more important.
However, I, too, am big on personal liberties. And to be honest, the noise really doesn't bother me. So on a personal annoyance level, it's not a big issue. I just see it as money being burnt.
I meant to say: It HAS gotten a lot worse.
There are an awful lot of very dangerous fireworks that are sold to inexperienced and irresponsible people. I never understood Indiana's former law that they could sell anything as long as you were taking it out of state (all surrounding states outlawed some if not all of the things that were sold). Now it's a free-for-all. I've seen far too many people take the 'safety' of fireworks for granted, stand too close, let their kids get to close or even light them. It's crazy.
That said, I make a tidy profit off of the more tame things we can sell in Michigan. No firecrackers, bottle rockets, roman candles or mortars can be sold here. What people don't understand though is that any firework can be dangerous if not used with caution.
I like fireworks but I also think that people go way overboard on how long they celebrate the DAY of our country's independance. I'm fine with whoopin' it up for the weekend but then put them away till next year.
Rachel - To set your mind at ease a bit...the wholesale price of those things is miniscule. The amount these towns spend on their displays wouldn't feed anyone for very long. I can't sell those big ones but I see what they cost...not much surprisingly.
Charmi, I'll back you up. One of the many, many beauties of living in Chicago is that fireworks are banned in the city (unless the city is lighting them off over the lake).
Second, fireworks have nothing to do with patriotism. Well, maybe China's. Hell, I don't think the 4th of July does anymore. It's just a three day weekend where goobers get to blow things up.
Speaking of China, let's all go out and get little plastic American flags and American flag lapel pins (Made in China) to show our patriotism. Man, can't we at least shell out a couple extra bucks to make sure those things are actually made in America?
Ah, shit. I'm a curmudgeon, but I speak from the heart. And if I have to hear Lee Greenwood's "I'm Proud to be an American" one more time I might cut my ears off and shove them up my ass. If anyone is interested in a truly honest, patriotic song without the phony lemmingness I suggest James McMurtry's (son of author Larry McMurtry) "We Can't Make It Here."
http://www.myspace.com/jamesmcmurtry
I'm out. John Adams would be ashamed.
"He who knows only his own country is like a man who reads but the first chapter of a book.”
– St. Augustine
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