The right to blow stuff up.

I like fireworks. There are few things more fun than lighting Chinese manufactured explosives with a few beers in me.

Sadly Texas doesn't have many Indian reservations so they're limited to selling snakes and sparklers. In Seattle, where you could drive any direction and within 20 minutes you'd hit a place where they would sell you anything, fun was always had by lighting off things that could land you in jail.

I didn't do much this year for the 4th as Kelly had to work early the next day, so I spent it watching the grand finale from my porch. Celebrating my patriotism by watching pretty colors light up the night sky I stood and pondered my existence in this country and what I've done, or haven't done, to make it a better one.

I sincerely believe this is a great country, but it could be better. As dangerous as constitutional democracy can be, it's up to us to keep it in check and not allow our leaders to run amok. Sadly we don't. Tea partiers claim they're fighting the good fight against Obama, but are so horribly misguided they look like a party of clowns. Our nation is a divided one, as usual, and often people from both sides of the political spectrum are all too easy to give up liberty for the sake of comfort. I miss being able to have roman candle wars and lawn darts and various other fun activities that may or may not result in me being maimed, but we can't have that. So I digress...

The staff at One Bad Apple hope you all had a safe and happy 4th of July.

"No other date on the calendar more potently symbolizes all that our nation stands for than the Fourth of July." - Mac Thornberry