The 4rth of July, 2011

Most years I write about the importance of the US revolution. It was not only a break with England, but a part of the “Republican” revolution against feudalism and the era of capitalism. That change had to happen. I usually point out that we led to the French Revolution and those in Central and South America that brought about BREIF independence from Europe, to be followed later by dominance of the US.

Here in the US it was a white man’s revolution. Women could not vote. Voters had to have property. Black folks were slaves and even the free couldn’t vote. Indians couldn’t vote for more than a century later and they were considered “savages” by the new ruling elite. We had some enlightened men as Thomas Jefferson and Tom Payne.

So that is the good side of the revolution. We now need a new revolution to wipe out capitalism.

Many of us are waiting for that to happen. In the meantime, I suppose we can buy fireworks and blow the crap out of stuff.

From Steve otto, Wichita Peace and Freedom Party Examiner;

For years Wichita has banned fireworks. The “over-safety crowd” decided they were too dangerous. People set them off for years and when the couldn’t by them legal, they went out of state or out of county.
Bottle Rockets have been illegal for decades in Kansas. But many people bring them in from Missouri. Some people make their own fireworks. They may use black or smokeless powder bought from a shop that sells gun loading equipment. Others use match stick heads. These aren’t the best explosives, but they do make a bang.
According to The Wichita Eagle the city could enact a firework ban sometime this week if the drought conditions continue. The fear is justified. It doesn’t take much to start a prairie fire. But people are already buying the fireworks now. Do they really believe no one will light them because of a last minute ban?
Fireworks have been a tradition of Independence Day for the last two centuries. Who is seriously going to try and stop than now?

According to Wikipedea,fireworks were used to celebrate the fourth as early as1777. On that day thirteen gunshotswere fired, once at morning and again as evening fell, on July 4 in Bristol, Rhode Island. Philadelphia celebrated the first anniversary in a manner a modern American would find quite familiar: an official dinner for the Continental Congress, toasts, 13-gun salutes, speeches, prayers, music, parades, troop reviews, and fireworks. Ships were decked with red, white, and blue bunting.