Fireworks and 4ward Observers

So it’s July 4th. I’ve just had a day of customer service work, and just found out I have the 5th off.

On the subway back, well, good music, and training new TuneTroopers in Song Summoner. ( What is Song Summoners? Think Final Fantasy+Pokemon+Click Wheel iPods in a guilt free threeway, with lighting and costuming from 1983-1985. YEAH, a game THAT GOOD!!!)

So finally, I get to the roof top party. And it was great. Due thanks to the hosts for one of many fantastic bashes.

But, after a day of helping people find their consumeables, dealing with staff members who resent me doing my job right (getting them to do their job right), and the vagaries of my schedule, I found my mind in, well…

You know how the American Anthem is about Fort McHenry coming under English Naval Bombardment, right?

So I’m talking with this one dude, a good dude, as fire works start popping up.

“Yeah, those Jersey fireworks are whimpy.”

Two strikes at once. One, mocking Jersey unfairly. Hit the Garden State where it’s weeds are, but not where the sweet Jersey corn is. Two,dude, open your eyes, dude.

Dude.

“Uh, that’s not Jersey. Look, you see the Statue of Liberty? The blasts are bigger than it, the black puffs of gun powder are in front of it. And look.. they are framed by the lights of a baseball park which is clearly by the highway, on our side of the East River. That’s not Jersey. That’s some local fireworks here in Brooklyn.”

And then, some fireworks popped off behind the Statue of Liberty. Like, in Liberty State Park.

“Now, look… see… size, relative distance. THOSE are Jersey.”

The dude, the good dude, nodded. A little startled. Either by my skill or by my being strange. Bit of both, I assure you.

And in fairness through to the attendees, much love was given to Jersey Fireworks when the Manhattan skyline blocked off a good portion of the Macy’s fireworks.

It was at this time, that two roof top parties, much drunker and less concerned with human life than ours, did a combination of roof-to-roof volleys, and vicious in fighting. It was cool to wash, especially when it looked like one of them may have set a church on fire… which didn’t happen. Burning churches bad, but seeing some drunken hipster being dragged away for poor marksmenship?

Priceless.

Anyhow, the dude, the good dude, mentioned if they started firing on us, we’d be screwed.

“Well, we don’t have any fireworks, and they do have slightly higher ground on us. But look… look at the roof.” The roof top was flat, then gently slopped up to what would make passable battlements.

“We have those slopes, which offer us protection, and a natural aid in directing fire towards them. I mean, yeah, they land something right in the middle of us, it would be bad, but we could totally take them in direct fire.”

Again, the sense of awkwardness. I smiled, drank more, and wandered off to different conversation in the company of a lovely young woman some of you may know.

I came to an important conclusion.

Should the world devolve into armed chaos, and we had to rely on each other a force of arms to survive, my 4th of July party goers would be genial companions. I know our barbecue chef of the day would be great in our party, able to grill any meat into something delicious. Our hosts would be great to have in our horde for their organizational skills, among other things.

But I would want no one, absolutely no one in a five block radius in the role of foreward artillery observer.

There would be no fire for effect.

At all.

Dude.

Sarah Paylin. PAY-LIN! GET IT!?!?!

So it seems, no surprise, in a party of unbounded, unapologetic moral corruption, Sarah Palin was living on the graft gravy train like there was no tomorrow.

And you know what?

I honestly think this doesn’t surprise any one of the McCain/ GOP National Committee people who vetted her. I mean, to some degree they turned a blind eye to some of her flaws. They had to have.

But I think they very easily put two and two together. They saw that she was so readily and easily bought, and thought

A: We can handle her.

B: We can get dirt on her.

And Jindahl, Sanford, Gingrich, Bennet, one after another of the GOP’s leaders or speakers is revealed to be an amazing, amazing hypocrite.

AND PEOPLE WONDER WHY THE GOP IS LOSING GROUND NATIONALLY?

Right minded right wingers, wake up. If you are a values voter, you’re leaders don’t share your values and never have.

If you are a cold hearted, marketeer… these people have nothing but disdain for a free and fair market, political or economic.

I mean, you guys are making the Democrats look better and better.

Except for in the New York State Assembly. There, they look like the putzes they’ve always been.