God Bless America (with Universal Health Care!)

We felt pretty patriotic after shooting fireworks at our friends' home in Pennsylvania. (Well, not literally AT their house... you know what I meant.) When we crossed the boarder into Pennsylvania, we stopped at a fireworks store. It was the Fourth of July so the place was pretty crowded. I had to sign some paperwork with a bunch of personal info like my drivers license, etc., and swear that I would abide by the local laws of whatever jurisdiction I was taking my fireworks to (nudge, nudge, wink, wink).

After we passed through the screening area, I was told if I lived in Pennsylvania, I had to limit myself to this little corner of the building, but if I was from anywhere else in the world, I could cross the ropes into the Warehouse of Destruction which looked like where Saddam might have hid his WMDs.

We limited ourselves to the Pennsylvania Pyromania room and found a lot of fun fireworks that we thought all the kids would enjoy. As I paid for them, the cashier told me that the sheriff from my county was actually in the WMD room picking out stuff for his party. The cashier gave me a "Preferred Pyro" membership card (no joke) that would allow me to buy fireworks in the future without going through all the paperwork.

That night, when we went outside to light our Spinning Blossoms and Flaring Volcanoes of Fire and Howling Hotpipes, we were immediately upstaged by the neighbors who were shooting rockets that were exploding in huge colorful bursts over the houses. They were awesome. "Why don't we have any good fireworks?" the kids whined. To which the adults responded, "You can see the neighbors' show just fine, and we didn't pay for it so it's even better." The kids all seemed to understand our logic, but I quietly resolved to buy cooler fireworks next year!

In the end, no one blew off a finger, or needed to go to the hospital, which is my segue to "Sicko." The day after we got home, Mother (my really hilarious nickname for my wife) and I went to see Michael Moore's new movie, "Sicko," which humorously compares the American health insurance program to health care throughout the rest of the Western world. While I realize there are many who are more knowledgeable than me on the issue who might take exception to the one-sidedness of the movie, it is hard to argue against all the real life human stories. Also, the movie was Hill-Air-Ee-Us! We were cracking up. (And Mother even cried a few times.) It was just a fantastic movie that I totally recommend. I give it four Hobbits out of five.