The Right to Bear Fireworks...

Oh say can you see that my wallet is light, from buying too many fireworks that will be used tonight...

The 4th of July, or Independence Day, is always one of the more festive holidays in the U.S. Relatives come over for a cookout. Kids are swimming in the pool or throwing the baseball around. The weather is nice, and American dads spend millions of dollars on explosives that they would condemn any other day of the year. It should be no surprise then, when something like this happens:

Lotsa Boom

and this video of a Fireworks Factory in Denmark is no slouch either...

Kolding Fireworks Factory

This next clip however, is definately one of the most frightening things I've ever seen.

Fireworks Factory On Fire

Wikipedia has the following to say about the importance of the day:

"Though the Fourth of July is almost iconic to Americans, some claim the date itself is somewhat arbitrary. New Englanders had been fighting Britain since April 1775. The first motion in the Continental Congress for independence was made on June 8. After hard debate, the Congress voted unanimously (12-0), but secretly, for independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain on July 2 (see Lee Resolution). The Congress reworked the text of the Declaration until a little after eleven o'clock, July 4th, when thirteen colonies voted for adoption and released an unsigned copy to the printers. (New York abstained from both votes.) Philadelphia celebrated the Declaration with public readings and bonfires on July 8. Not until August 2 would a fair printing be signed by the members of the Congress, but even that was kept secret to protect the members from British reprisal.

John Adams, credited by Thomas Jefferson as the unofficial, tireless whip of the independence-minded, wrote his wife Abigail on July 3:

The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more.

Adams was off by two days, however. Certainly, the vote on July 2 was the decisive act. But July 4 is the date on the Declaration itself. Jefferson's stirring prose, as edited by the Congress, was first adopted by the vote of the 4th. It was also the first day Philadelphians heard the official news of independence from the Continental Congress, as opposed to rumors in the street about secret voes."

So it's another great reason to get drunk and set off fireworks... just like Saturday night.

666 Run Devil Run!

Apart from being an American brand of cough syrup noone has ever heard of and the combination to all my suitcases, the number 666 has for eons symbolized the re-awakening of the dark figurehead that's known by a thousand names throughout time. The Devil, Satan, Lucifer, Beelzebub, The Prince of Darkness, in America we refer to him as "Mr President"

I've never read the bible fully to understand what all the fuss is
about, though I am intrigued by the very valid question of which is more frightening to behold, armaggedon and the return of the anti- christ or the film version of "The Greatest Story Ever Told" starring Angela Lansbury, Martin Landau, Pat Boone, and Max Von Sydow as Jesus... Now that... sounds like a dark day indeed.

Submitted for your perusal, the following links should fill your head more full of brimstone and treacle than a shitty Sting solo album...

The Devil Inside

Wiki-Wiki-Wiki



Run Devil Run!