||| FROM JOHN ERLY |||
Let’s start with “Pet Parade” where there were goats, horses, cows, rabbits, chickens, ducks, goldfish in bowl, snakes, and other farm animals we are used to seeing. We did have some amazing dogs, a couple of cats, and a turtle.
Can anyone remember when we did not have a “fire works,” except the year the wind blew too hard. I am sure that money (around $17,000) had a big part. Our big donors from the past have either moved or passed away. Also I was told by the CC that some sort of survey indicated that the majority of island residents did not want the “fire works.” I find this hard to believe.
Change is inevitable — or is it?
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No fireworks on Independence Day – Very disappointing, but not unexpected from a populace that votes 70% “progressive” with an agenda that seeks to replace our Constitutional Republic with an elitist authoritarian regime under global control with “European Values”, all the while hiding behind Constitutional privileges and immunities while subverting and sabotaging 250 years of sacrifice.
Memorial Day 2025 – Approximately One Million Dead in the defense of our liberties. Perhaps we should find a new sponsor since the CC appears to be co-opted now.
One benefit of not having fireworks is having oystercatchers on Indian Island. Indian Island has been welcoming these beautiful birds since tribal days and maybe before. Most years a pair still shows up. They build a nest and lay an egg. Then the fireworks scares them away. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have these birds complete their cycle again instead of fireworks for a night. It a choice. choice.
I realize I’m taking the bait here, but to assert that the current administration respects the Constitution and does not exhibit authoritarian behavior is, well, a wee bit out of reality.
As for the island changing (from a broader perspective than the loss of fireworks and a scaled-down parade, though I do miss the “old days”), it’s not politics that are driving the change but money . . .
Fireworks negatively impact the environment through air pollution, water contamination, and wildlife disturbance. They release toxic chemicals, fine particles, and heavy metals into the air, contributing to poor air quality and potentially harming human and wildlife health. Debris from fireworks can contaminate soil and water, harming aquatic life and ecosystems. The loud noises and bright lights stress and disorient wildlife. More pets go missing on the 4th of July than any other day of the year.
No fireworks? Good riddance!
Fireworks can be lethal to those who use them. Asian New Years’ celebrations always include fireworks.
Hawaiians are quite mad about fireworks at New Years.
This year in Aliamanu (a neighborhood in Honolulu) a tragic accident occurred when a home-brew fireworks display prematurely detonated inside a garage while more than 20 people were attending a party in the driveway. It became a war zone. 3 persons were killed immediately (including a 3-year old) and another died within days. 6 persons were medivaced to an Arizona burn center for extensive reconstructive surgeries. See https://apnews.com/article/fireworks-accident-two-dead-honolulu-1075a875d2f881516dde4e412d21fd7d. (Article does not include all deaths).
No thanks. I like oystercatchers, peace, and quiet, even on New Years’ Eve and the Fourth.
Respectfully, that was a great leap from the pet parade (gold fish, cows, goats, etc., to fireworks). I have a strong belief that it is important to validate others’ points of view, rather than knowing that what I think is the truth. So, I validate the opinion being offered that the island is changing and that some folks are sad about the choice to not have fireworks. Valid.
My opinion is that the cost of fireworks (in the several tens of thousands of dollars) is a lot. I don’t necessarily see the equivalency of patriotism with the fireworks display. I do see the equivalency of patriotism with respect, kindness, tolerance, humility, diversity, love, taking care of our planet, and freedom of expression.
Change can be difficult. Let’s put that money into helping our community rather than a few minutes of hubris and pollution. There are other ways of expressing patriotism while celebrating independence, freedom, tolerance, and respecting diverse points of view.
One year I sat outside Flo Bullock’s house to see the fireworks — never will I forget the screams of terror as wildlife fled, or the suffocating smoke. LASER FIREWORKS ANYONE?
In San Jose Del Cabo we see these lighted drones take off in packs of at least 40 from the beach with really good results. They write things in the air and do brusting firework like things. It’s really quite nice. No noise or smoke.
There’s other ways to have a good time on the fourth of July, or for one to show their pride for our country, (for those that have any). Going to the official fireworks hoorah is one way.
As a child I loved fireworks… exciting. As a teenager it was pop bottle rocket wars… exciting. As a young man it was explosives… exciting. Once I spent the summer in a pohunk community in the high country desert of nowhere Nevada… the people came out with their shotguns at midnight and blasted them off… exciting.
What happened? Unlike one on this thread I grew up… it takes some longer than others.
Predictable progressive Rabbit-hole diverting the narrative to a peripheral issue. It’s not about fireworks, it’s about marginalizing national / patriotic traditions, norms and holidays.
Three years ago, on the eve of Independence Day, Edee Kulper offered a brief interview with Major Erly that may be worth revisiting. His current letter touches on parades and fireworks as a metaphor for the apparent disinterest in remembering who we are and how we came to be. My comment goes beyond that to recognize an ongoing, concerted effort by progressives to subordinate our national identity in favor of “Globalism”.
Let’s stop for a moment and look back at the wholesale destruction of national monuments, and domestic anti-Americanism rampant in 2020, the suspension of civil liberties during the “Covid Crisis”. Locally let’s recall several years ago Ms. Abreu advocating an international day of peace to replace Veterans Day and ongoing revisionist history in our schools.
Let’s recall the last four years of unconstitutional executive dictates in the name of a titular “President” who had to be led around by the Easter Bunny. Let’s call to mind the annual meetings in Davos where world oligarchs, including Soros, Gates, Kerry and Clinton plan the “New World Order” and the EU parliament in Brussels passes transnational laws that violate our civil liberties with criminal penalties.
Then let’s consider how our Constitution and our nationalism stand in the way of those agendas. And how marginalizing America is necessary in order for Ursula van der Leyen to achieve a “New World Order based on European Values”
Then let’s have a discussion about fireworks?
“Predictable progressive Rabbit-hole diverting the narrative to a peripheral issue. It’s not about fireworks, it’s about marginalizing national / patriotic traditions, norms and holidays.”
Hmmm, you’re the one that started out with the fireworks analogy… and then folks took it from there. Perhaps if you could throw out more facts than mere generalities people might better understand where you’re coming from.
But I get you. As one who’s a registered democrat, but also a proud progressive who came from a redneck, midwest, republican family, I get you… with this, (where you’re coming from), being only one of the many reasons why I left the midwest and never looked back.
It’s not so much that people host a “disinterest in remembering who we are and how we came to be,” it’s more like people do remember who we are, and how we came to be… with a background, (leading up to the present) that doesn’t always shine on history favorably.
Yes, let’s do look back at “the wholesale destruction of national monuments, and domestic anti-Americanism rampant in 2020, the suspension of civil liberties during the ‘Covid Crisis'”. Can you elaborate… what monuments would you want returned? What domestic anti-Americanism do you feel was rampant in 2020?” And how would you have handled the response to the pandemic differently? Inquiring minds want to know.
Though I’m a registered democrat, I was no fan of the “titular “President” who had to be led around by the Easter Bunny,” nor am I a fan of the Davos olygarch’s (including those that surround the current man-boy president that’s in office). I am also not a fan of Ursula van der Leyen, nor the “New World Order,” a term used by many, including Woodrow Wilson, Roosevelt, Truman, Gorbachev, George H. W. Bush, Hitler, and more recently Baby Bush in his March 6, 1991 speech outlining the US administration’s principal policy statement on the new order in the Middle East following the expulsion of Iraqi forces from Kuwait. You may remember this, the moment he was declaring that the Iraq war was over, (when it wasn’t over), “Now, we can see a new world coming into view. A world in which there is the very real prospect of a new world order.” “Even the new world order cannot guarantee an era of perpetual peace.”
Though, again, I’m not a fan of many democrats that have either been elected, or run for the presidency in the past several decades… in a world of lesser evils, I do feel that any of them make Trump look pretty bad.
Patrick Lawrence pretty well sums up my feelings on the Trump administration in today’s Consortium News article titled, “The White House as Mad House.”
“It is time, plain and simple, to give up the thought that anything good is to come out of Trump’s next three and a half years.”
https://consortiumnews.com/2025/05/28/patrick-lawrence-the-white-house-as-playpen/?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=a6647bdb-a658-457e-87b9-29dc4f8a3840
Word for the day – SEGUE: a transition from one role, state, or condition to another.
As noted in my previous comment, the Opinion letter touches on parades and FIREWORKS which furnished a segue to my broader concerns as noted.
I expect, perhaps wrongly, that literary conventions and as well as detailed discussions of commonly available information on the internet need no further explanation, only research by the curious, with the caveat that such information can and has been used to “prove” almost anything from any perspective. Consequently ones insight relies on analysis of broad and differing sources, both pro and con. In effect, I’m not going to do other’s homework for them, it only has value if they inform themselves.
On another note, the discussion string holds a very useful suggestion for continued “celebration” with “illuminations” by using technology to replace “fireworks”. The community is well served with the problem solving approach suggested by Ms. Malins as seconded by Mr. Abood. It is equally well served by Mr. Ginig’s reminder of kind, thoughtful and civil behavior.