In general I have a big problem with holidays, but Independence Day is in my top 5 of retarded holidays. In other countries Independence Day is a celebration of escaping from persecution, murder, genocide, etc. In this country we make believe that we were escaping from one or all of those horrible situations. We were not. We love to play the victim here in America. Anyway, as part of this Independence Day tradition we like to waste millions of dollars in resources making things explode in the sky. Granted, fireworks have a definite entertainment value and it is not my intent to ruin or dissolve all the fun on the planet, but what if we took all the money the country spent on fireworks each year and used it to help solve an actual problem. Not to mention the countless number of Americans who blow parts of themselves up or off and have to receive inordinate sums of valuable medical resources getting stitched back together. The hidden costs go far beyond explosives. As usual, the verdict is in and it screams loudly that Independence Day is a big waste, an attempt by America and Americans to show off their big dick.