I wholeheartedly agree! Well said. Rated.

i just read about a small city that canceled their fireworks display. the mayor said he couldn't justify spending $34,000 on fireworks when so many are hungry.

your raise a great point... but don't mess with our fireworks.

That's all well and good Natalie, but God's already judged all those homeless and soon to be homeless people and found them lacking. Who are we to second guess God and lavish fireworks money on those he's already abandoned?

Thanks Owl.

Capn, see? That makes me happy. I'll send you a sparkler.

Well said. You have my vote. There are a lot of canceled municipal fireworks shows in California. But folks are buying their own fireworks. The racket will go on all night, here.

"For the people had taken on an oveburden of debt, and lo, verily, Yahweh opted to smack 'em with foreclosure. Property values plummeted, and there was much wailing in Orange County."

Ezekiel, 4: 13: 7

Absolutely agree, Natalie. While we're at it, why not push some of the money down from the behemoth religious organizations instead of building monstrosities all over the world, like the Mormon temples
http://images.google.com/images?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=&q=mormon%20temples%20of%20the%20world&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi

http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&um=1&q=mormon+temples+of+the+world&sa=N&start=40&ndsp=20

And Catholic cathedrals

http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&um=1&sa=1&q=catholic+churches&aq=f&oq=

http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&um=1&q=catholic+churches&sa=N&start=20&ndsp=20

And let’s not forget the absurd amount of money spent on the war on drugs, buying foreign governments, oil, political campaigns.

great point. i felt that way about the inauguration this year too. there are so many things that can be done in a smaller and less expensive way. i, for one, do not need that enormous bigger and better display!!! i was just commenting on Julie-H's blog that i always watch the Boston Pops on the Charles River and i don't give a hoot about the 'works themselves. i love the 1812 overture being played. i do love the cannons being fired, because of all the history behind that. that can't be too freaking expensive, can it? but the 'works themselves? i'd rather listen to the Pops play patriotic songs with some rudimentary display, if any. love love love.

if this was a fair country/world, then all those billionaires would take one of their many many homes and open it as a shelter for people who have no homes. b ut there are regulations and people to be hired and whatever else. i think about that kind of thing a lot, as i know you two do.

Wow. I had no idea it cost that much.... Very good points you make.

Great new pic, Nat. Sexy. I don't believe if you believe in God that you would think he could find anyone lacking. And again, if you believe, how could you think God would abandon anyone. No one knows his plans. As for the wasteful spending, I agree. Take the money, feed the homeless, and supply them with a place to stay. I don't think this is what the Founding Father's had in mind!!

I think you raise such a good point. There must be ways to trim down the costs of this celebration, while still keeping it a safe one for all. After all, during a near DEPRESSION, we can all say we HAVE seen fireworks before. When do we begin to make some sacrifices for the good of our country-- even little ones would be okay like slimming down the fireworks display?

They should cut back, but I bet they think that they are fooling some people by their extravagance. "Oh, we're coming out of this....we can still celebrate..." Plus some dumbasses might say it's less patriotic, but really, if they spun it the right way, it could seem thrifty and smart.

Well said. Of course, it would hardly be the first time our nation has shown greater concern for gunpowder than for people, would it?

Rated.

"Give everyone a sparkler and sing some songs. "

I'm with you - agreed. Excellent point.

peece,
dj

like Cindy's idea. if that is too difficult, then "give everyone a sparkler and sing some songs" . rated, Natalie

Nana, funny :P

Zuma, it's great if people can afford it buy them. Then everyone gets to enjoy, just in reasonable quantities.

Yahweh, that reads like a religious verse for the Next Generation.

Powerful images and words, Bob. You're right. Our society overspends everywhere.

Theo, I too felt like that at inauguration time. I think we all got excited about 'change'.

Danni, thanks for coming by. I love RHCP.

WAH, thank you.

Scanner, I think Nana was being sarcastic. He does it a lot. I agree - the Founding Fathers are probably rolling in their graves.

Bella, exactly. Just a little nip and tuck here and there and we could make a lot of people more comfortable.

Delia, I hadn't thought about it as putting a brave face on. You make a good point.

Cindy, that's a wonderful idea. Sometimes less is more. Maybe we've become so used to extravagance that we've forgotten how to enjoy the beauty that surrounds us.

Kevin, no not the first and sadly, probably not the last.

Jim, thanks for reading. Peace to you.

Rolling, Cindy's full of great ideas. She has my vote too.

love the new pic...
never much for fireworks myself

Good morning. I love red borsch beet soup. So, tease and tickle those you wish to wake up from a dazed slumber. Folk can doze like a bum on a lumber bench.
Or,
a bump on a log in a swamp bog.
Or,
IF you are a shell-shocked PTSD draftee
chooses to bunker down
he feels a twinge of fear
he cries IF
he squirts
ketchups
on sesame bums on franks,
or,
on hot kosher bagels dogs
all sane hungry folks mutt
need Alpo. Be happy bum

Natalie, we waste so much money in this country which could be put to better use. The fireworks seem like a drop in the bucket but that's what fills a bucket, isn't it?
Everyone out in the streets or on the beach or wherever with sparklers in hand is such a beautiful image.
Sometimes Jeff says things that I wish I had said and his comment earlier was one of them. It is a subject which I have been hesitant to touch on for fear of being burned at the stake but maybe the time has come.
Agree with you completely.
Sharon

Good point Nat. I suppose we will have earned the right to have a huge fireworks display when we've gotten to a point when every family has a house, and every child has a plate of food. Until then our celebrations indeed are shallow.

Nanatehay, I take it you're being facetious:

but God's already judged all those homeless and soon to be homeless people and found them lacking. Who are we to second guess God and lavish fireworks money on those he's already abandoned?

I think we should have celebrations of various kinds including fireworks display, and the homeless should be part of it, inf only to celebrate the joy of being alive, but I really have a problem with the idea that the homeless deserves the plight. Then of course the rape victim also had gotten their just rewards from god. And so those who perished in the World Trade Center. Life can be darn unfair at the best of times. How about the attitude "there I go but for the grace of god"? When we celebrate, lets do it will humanity and with the full knowledge that we have been given a good hand by fate, but that it can change at a moments notice. Posted this one specially in reaction to that comment, and especially during a financial crisis when thousands are losing their homes-- Lucifer's Law.

You are so right! I'd never thought about it. Or.. just have one fireworks show and let everybody watch it on television. Aren't we already sending enough money to China in the name of patriotism?

Nanatehay, I see it is a joke, and taken that way. It was still a great way for me to make my point as I wanted to post this piece. I live in Africa so homelessness is a pretty big issue.

I was going to say, "I wholeheartedly agree" and then I saw that Owl_Says_Who beat me to it verbatim. (Grrrr)

Suffice to say that these days, without small children around or a significant other handy, I don't even bother to go and look at the fireworks so it is entirely lost on me and has been for a few years now. The money could certainly be put to bettter use.

NNOW YOU HAVE DONE IT, GIRLY GIRL, YOU INVETERATE DO-GOODER OF THOUGHTS AND DEEDS, NURSE TO OUR SOULS!

ach, you have grabbed the attention of yr (well, not YOUR, cuz yre in austaralia)
Uncle Sammy...

Heres what sammy sez:

ms. natalie, how dre you question the money spent onour little b-day smash for the grand old dame, Ms. Liberty?
ach! yeah, we spent 5.4 billion in fireworks, so what? it lifted our sppitits! we are down these days, what with this recession you damn asians started...we are doing our best to fix another one of your messes,

and it is hard work .we need to kick back & relax, drink a sixpack and glory in our godgiven freedom. shoot off a few rounds in the air, with our godgiven handguns, and sing "god bless amierica" inour god given beautiful voices...

god is always on our side..not you silly yakkety yakkety asians....you and the eurpopeans are nothin but soicialist cry-
babies...grow up & act yr age!

send us a gift card....a funny one...with some bills tucked in, y-dontcha?
ha!

True. Some companies and local municipalities are doing just that.
Here in Miami, two local places known for thier extravagant fireworks displays declined to do anything this year.

However, if you think about it, not all, but some of those homeless are homeless because they let all their dreams go up in smoke in the form of crack pipes, joints and other substances. And the sad part is that there are ways to escape the Hell that is substance abuse but many choose not to or are so far gone they cannot recover.

Trust me, I know. I spend a lot of my free time trying to help those afflicted.

I understand what you're saying. I bought my boys $18 worth of fireworks and thought that should be enough. Instead, they've been saving their money to buy more.....about an additional $20 to $30 more each. I told them they were just burning up their money.

"millions of dollars literally going up in smoke."

Natalie, you're so right. Like the rest of what often goes on in this country, our priorities sometimes just seem so out of whack. Makes me want to scream sometimes, but instead I'll just give to the local foodbank. Thanks.

I say give everyone a couple of million dollars and watch their bills go up in smoke.

Economics don't make sense on the human level all the time. I've long considered that if I get a bad cancer with, oh hell, I don't know, like a one in four chance of survival past a few years, I'd like to negotiate with the insurance company to get a cash payment of half the estimated cost to go to some third world charity. I mean, just by being an American (right now a technically poor one), I have already used an amazing and unprecedented amount of world resources. Say my cancer treatment would cost $1 million. How many kids in a developing country would that feed to adulthood and educate? Why should $1 million be spent on my fat ass? What makes me so uniquely valuable? I'm 38; I'm already three years past the historic (and pre-historic) average lifespan of a homo sapien. And yet, for all my rhetoric here, when the time comes, I don't think I'd ever be able to get the money moved out of US the healthcare system in to the third world (assuming I have the moral fiber to pull it off when I'm looking death in the eye). Not gonna happen. So much of life is unfair and just plain ridiculous.

On the other hand, I rather enjoyed watching fireworks last night. Insane, but pretty. :-P

Totally agree; and the same goes for the Jackson celebration on Tuesday. Sure, we can rock and praise and honor and have a great jubilation. But it doesn't have to cost much at all. I've always felt that there is enough money and enough food and enough of everything, really, to feed and house every person on the planet. Starving children? Homeless veterans? WTF

Totally agree; and the same goes for the Jackson celebration on Tuesday. Sure, we can rock and praise and honor and have a great jubilation. But it doesn't have to cost much at all. I've always felt that there is enough money and enough food and enough of everything, really, to feed and house every person on the planet. Starving children? Homeless veterans? WTF

Pffft. We need more fireworks!!!! Lots more!! Maybe attach them to the homeless and hungry. Yeah I have been hanging out with nana too much now that you mention it!!

;)

wow NB your new av looks like a movie star.
I saw fireworks :p

Tinkertink is right; some bottlerockets inserted in homeless peoples' underwear would be motivational as well as picturesque. And your new avatar makes me gay for you.

yr comment on "king is dead" made my day....thank you so damn much...
ach i am getting teary...

you are so fucking right about this i cant begin to tell you...
i am so angry....
so very very angry...

ach...i live in the richest town in the richest state of the Union,
and homeless people wander the streets..

i have grown a heart, at long last...

god it hurts...

yet it also swells at times...

jim xo

Rated!

Thank you Brian.

Arthur, complacency sets my blood on fire and not in the good way. Makes me angry and shouty.

Life is Good, Jeff burning at the stake is just another alternative for fireworks. He's going to hell for that comment anyway :P

Newton, full tummies for everyone would indeed be something to celebrate.

Penrose, great idea about the TV.

Harp, fireworks are pretty but so fleeting that they're lost on me too.

JK, the 5th of July is one of my favourites. Every July 5th Eve, I think 'bring it on, already!'

Jim, you should visit us Asians sometime. It's pretty here. And re your post, I'm glad you liked the comment. Heartache is good. At least you know it's working.

Trudge, if people are homeless because of drug addiction then they need a different kind of help and understanding. A lot of addicts have kids to support. The children are what matters.

Patricia, kids are great. It's good that they can spend freely with no worries. Let them enjoy it while they can.

Sactogator, changing priorities is our only hope.

O'really, it'd be nice, wouldn't it?

Twitterbard, that's a good idea you have there.

daisy, the whole Michael Jackson thing frustrates me on a few different levels. At the best, the media is proving how fickle it really is and at worst we're celebrating the life of a dead pedophile.

Tinky, i didn't know it was contagious :P

vzn, thanks for reading.

Drew, you said the same thing about the old one. Flirt.

Thanks Marcela.

If only we could send up some federal gov torturers, panderers, polluters and war-mongering money grubbing ceo's... I'd like to see how well their golden parachutes gleam in the night sky.

I now feel very guilty for enjoying our town's fireworks display. You are so right, just another example of Good Old Fashioned American Excess.

But we needs us our fireworks! Rockets red glare, and all that.

Nat, Yeah, my heart is working pretty well now. I am in a sort of "Brotherhood of Luna_tics"...coupla guys---brothers----& we are trying to figger out why we aint suck-sessful like our peers...why we is so mentally "diabled"(ha!)...

You asians got it made, with yer buddhism & free pot &such..

JIM

Great comment. I currently live in Saudi Arabia where they don't celebrate any kind of holidays with big fancy fireworks displays. Granted, they don't recognize holidays but that's altogether different.

How many nurses or teachers would $5 million employ for a year?

Deepcleav, I like fun too.

Sally, that's a great idea, but somehow I don't think they'd agree.

James, I wish.

GJI, do the Saudis have fireworks on the Eids? I know that muslims in Australia have huge celebrations on both of them.

Ahh, Natalie, you are a truly lovely lass... please remember, though, a proper Empire must have its Bread and Circuses. And its Circuses above all.

You da woman. I sometimes wonder what would happen if we just did the math on the stimulus and the (entirely elective) Iraq war, subtracted actual, palpable, demonstrable idiocy from national, state and municipal budgets, put all that money in a big pile and then split it up so that every man, woman and child in this Great Nation Of Ours had an equal share — wouldn't we be a nation of multi-millionaires? Just wondering...