Octopodial Chrome

From 1976 to 2003, the number of pounds of fireworks sold in the US increased nearly tenfold, and yet the number of fireworks-related deaths remained constant. Every year fifteen times as many children under the age of 10 will drown in their bathtubs as men, women and children will die in fireworks accidents. And yet five states completely outlaw fireworks, and 31 regulate them in some fashion. Celebrate independence; celebrate freedom; celebrate liberty; free fireworks!

Victor Davis Hanson points out one very salient fact: While the world debated whether an American guard at Guantanamo really flushed a Koran down a toilet, Robert Mugabe may have bulldozed the homes of 1.5 million Zimbabweans. Few seem to have cared. The current debate is a succession of tempests in teapots while really important stuff is routinely ignored.