Yeah, Right

I am living in a war zone!! As I look out my front door, I see neighbors at the top of the street shooting their neighbors across the street, who are shooting back. Behind them are the shadows of old cars, silhouetted by bright, smoke-producing, flashing sparks. Shots are heard all around me. The sky is filled with exploding, colorful cannon flash. This has been going on now for about 2 hours. Suddenly, directly overhead, a long-lasting barrage of flashing color booms, shattering flack all around the house. Not to be outdone, the neighbor two blocks over responds with even bigger booms and more color, and more flack. Then, the entire sky seems to ignite with rocket fire, flack, cannon fire, musket balls, roman candles and magnificent sparkling fountains. Someone sets off a package of 500 Black Cats, and another shoots about 20 screamers. Then all is quiet, except for the occasional screamer and various sundry m-60's. But this is only a momentary lull. The whole process starts all over again... and for the next two hours, the neighborhood is aglow in brilliant flashes and booms and cracks of varying intensity.

What is remarkable about all of this is that I live in a neighborhood dominated by hispanics and marshallese immigrants. Never have I seen such intense celebration on the 4th of July.

A little over a year ago, I was privileged to witness a citizenship ceremony. It was a beautiful experience, as one after another immigrant pledged their allegiance to the United States of America. These people worked hard to get to this point. Many cried tears of joy, expressing gratitude to the presiding judge and all those present.

This Fourth of July, as on most, the president of the United States addressed just such a ceremony. I imagine this group of candidates have worked just as hard as those I witnessed, and were just as excited. Only this group is privileged to be addressed by the leader of this new country of theirs.

Unfortunately, just as the President begins to address them, some boneheads in the back begin yelling. "Impeach Bush! Impeach Bush!" they yell. The President pauses while these folks are asked to be a little more respectful. They calm down... until the President begins speaking again. "Impeach Bush! Impeach Bush!" they yell again.

How selfish! How insensitively selfish is this! It's one thing to oppose the President, and I certainly have no problem with some bonehead proving his stupidity vocally, but have some !$%@* respect! Interrupt a fancy dinner, or campaign stump... but let these folks have their day. This is like interrupting an adoption hearing to stump for the judge's opponent. Or protesting at the burial of a fallen soldier. It is selfish, insensitive, moronic and idiotic. It does nothing to promote a cause, and only hurts those individuals who are trying to appreciate the solemnity of the occasion. Have some class!

It sounds like the war is winding down now. There is the occasional boom from the left, responded by a louder boom from the right. Now the left pauses for a second or two, then sets off another m-60. The army on the right lights off a couple of bottle rockets. From somewhere in the back comes a lone muffled shot. The guy on the left doesn't seem to want to let it end. He gets off a few more shots. After a few minutes, the team on the right replies with a single shot. Lefty quickly shoots back... I guess he made his point.

Now maybe I can get some sleep...