distant fireworks

[calbert at pop.tiac.net]

Lachrymosa from the ivory tower:

> >With each passing year, as U.S. citizens sleep with
> >Television providing the stuff their dreams are made on,
> >like children too excited by the bangs and bursts of rocket
> >celebrations, a public ignorant, apathetic, and  generally
> >complacent, gazes with a false nostalgia at the trivialized
> >memory of a Revolution, while its Executive subverts
> >constitutional balance, exerting force in over 70 foreign
> >conflicts, and writs of habeas corpus are suspended by state
> >governments. This is one of the things Pynchon hopes we will
> >pay attention too--the smell of Distant fireworks.

I hope to G-d that TRP is a little more sophisticated than that; I 
PRAY some of his readers are.

Power that bullies will always suck, always has - as does any 
suggestion that it has a national identity. I spent the 4th working a 
small town carnival, and I am pleased to tell you that your fellow 
citizens are neither stupid nor indifferent. Any suggestion to the 
contrary is grossly patronizing. Most of them work hard, raise 
families and care about their neighbours - get out a little bit, you 
might be surprised.

And to Kosovars returning from their diaspora - Live long, prosper, 
and leave your serbian neighbours in peace.

love,
cfa