4th of july

Thanksgiving and July 4th are the weirdest days to be here... because usually they are just working days. My friends who are online from their offices in the USA are not present and I wonder what they are doing.

However, I am glad I am not there paying taxes to support the current government. I have started receiving US magazines again and seeing the advertising, reading the reporting, etc. and feel more connected than I did last year.

There was a particularly disturbing ad in US News and World report - showing shoes lined up near the door to outside. A pair of dress shoes, a muddy pair of running shoes - and a pair of army boots. The ad was something like - "Join the army reserve and stay close to home." Um, big fat lie there I think - it should say "Join the army reserve, get sent to Iraq and come home in a box." Then you'll stay close to home - in a cemetery. But your family will have a nice triangle folded flag to remember you by, isn't that nice?

The advertising is particularly jarring to look at, it reminds me of how huge the selection of products and services is there - and the list prices of things remind me of how little I am paid and how much shit I take for such little pay.

And I am finishing my 4th of july now watching Cronica, the news channel from Argentina - showing snow in Cordoba province. Children having a snowball fight on TV. It looks like about six inches of it fell - and the people they are interviewing are all agog about it. Comments ranging from "I've never seen snow," to "I've never seen this much." They've switched to a slow motion view of a snowball fight with Enya in the background. What I cannot imagine is the combination of slick roads and Argentine drivers...