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Despite the the title says, this entry has nothing to do with Southpark. cool But it's been a few days since my last entry, so I figure that I should do one right now.

So, today is the 4th of July... Independence Day. And it would seem that here in California, the rules for fireworks are a lot more strict. As the years pass, the fireworks available here in America get crappier, and places for fireworks displays get even more scarce. What's up with that? Once again, tradition is being tampered with, and it really sucks.

In Long Beach, the fireworks display that has taken place for 21 years has been cancelled. This time, the city of Long Beach wanted to be paid $75,000 for this traditional event to take place. They claim that it's to pay for officers to supervise, and what not. Looks more like another city greedy for money. And what sucks about tradition being screwed with is how people are forced to break routine. People grow up watching fireworks, and when they have kids of their own, they'd like to share the same joys they felt as children with their children. Now this has been taken away.

America is so damn strict with fireworks, people are almost forced to go to other countries such as Mexico to get some decent fireworks. Yes, it's dangerous to light an M-80, but anything that can combust is dangerous in the hands of those who are irresponsible. If someone acts like they should be wearing a helmet, then people around them should not give them explosives.(No offense to people who have to wear helmets.)

Whether you like it or not, people will ALWAYS do stupid things. The government feels like they have to protect the people from themselves, and I can understand why. But there are better ways of doing this. In fact, an idea JUST hit me. If people want to buy fireworks, they have to meet an age requirement of course.(Like now.) And before purchasing certain types of fireworks, people should have to give information like who they are, where they live, and sign papers that basically means that the person buying these items are responsible for whatever happens, and is agreeing to accept any punishment for the misuse of the fireworks. Why can't it just go down like that instead of taking away everyone's fun?