As you may or may not know, July the 4th is American Independence Day. In the United States, it is generally celebrated by the lighting of colourful explosives, the drinking of beer, and the butchering of the national anthem by some "popular" singer who thinks the song doesn't already have enough notes. This is how the day plays out in numerous American municipalities...
You put Arabian petrol in your Japanese car to drive to the German-designed park. You set up your Taiwanese lawn-chair or unroll your Pakistani beach towel. Perhaps you eat a hamburger from beef made in Mexico with melted English cheese. All the while, you are listening to an orchestra conducted by a Swede, using German and Japanese instruments to play a Russian song about a French war. Finally, as the Canadian storm-front closes in, you get to watch Italian fireworks launched by Germans, Haitians, Greeks, and Irishmen, lasting a grand total of 22 minutes (which you know by a quick glance at your Swiss watch). Finally, when it's all over, you get to wear a hole in your Sri Lankan shoes, walking over a bridge built by Guatemalans and Scotsmen, back to your Japanese car to waste your Arabian petrol in a purely American traffic queue.
