Bombs bursting in air

With a subject like that, I'm likely to end up on some terrorist watchlist. ;)

I'm actually blogging, of course, about Evansville's Independence Day fireworks display. My beloved is visiting her family in Pittsburgh, where we enjoyed the annual July 4 spectacular together last summer. Since we couldn't share our fireworks this year, being 600 miles and one time zone apart, I decided to make my first contribution to YouTube tonight, for her (and by extension, you) to enjoy:



This is just the grand finale... the rockets came in about two minute volleys for maybe 20 minutes or so, but this is the best take by far.

Now, I'm sure Gretchen got the better show - Pittsburgh has quite a few more gazillions of dollars to invest in boom-stuff than E-ville, not to mention a major local pyrotechnics manufacturer eager to showcase its latest innovations.

But our little burgh did alright for itself, I thought. Especially when you consider that the state capitol and its exhibition is just half an hour from here, and Janesville (a much larger city) has a big fireworks display twenty minutes down the road. That the people of Evansville not only bother with a local fireworks show, but do so with brio, is refreshing!

I miss Gretchen tonight. Fireworks without her aren't as beautiful. But it was alright to spread out the quilt she made for us to stargaze on, look out over the city park, and think that even if we weren't able to enjoy them together, we were both watching fireworks tonight.

Maybe when I see her the weekend after next, we'll light off some fireworks ourselves. :) Yay!

Big gain, local pain

This is why it's so hard for government to make the hard choices on any number of challenging issues - the very real, large-scale benefits for the nation as a whole always come at the expense of a particular few on the local level.

GM announced yesterday that it will close four of its plants - including the one just down the road in Janesville - by 2010. Normally I'd be cheering the decision, based as it is in the American consumer's fading interest in the monstrously huge vehicles that have been GM's trade in stock for the last decade. It's a good sign that where personal virtue and concern for the environment aren't enough to affect a change, at long last there are economic incentives and disincentives that seem to be getting the job done.

There's no reason for the vast majority of drivers to be mounting these behemoths for their daily commute. My car (which is really not all that small) regularly vanishes in the parking lot, hidden in the canyons winding between the massive SUVs and pickups. On the freeway between E-ville and Gretchen's, I'm often cut off by vehicles weighing twice what mine does, with a single person in the cabin, working the wheel and the pedals as though he were Dale, Jr. - or maybe Evel Knievel. All the while, burning through irreplaceable fossil fuels at a rate that makes my head spin, and coughing out greenhouse gases like there's no tomorrow (and maybe helping to ensure the aptness of that simile).

It's no secret how I feel about all these large vehicles - unless you're running a farm or have some legitimate need for the hauling capacity they offer, there's really no excuse for them. They should never have become mainstream passenger vehicles in the first place. I couldn't be happier that Americans are abandoning their SUVs and trucks in favor of smaller, more fuel-efficient wheels. As much as I feel the pinch every time I make The Big Drive to see my wife, I fundamentally agree with Thomas Friedman: $4 gas is a good thing for America in the grand scheme of things, if we're only smart enough to use it to our advantage.

So we've got an instance of the market forcing GM's hand, where virtue and common sense had previously been unable to upend the profit motive. Hip, hip, hooray! Right?

Except it's hard to be too cheery about this development, when a lot of good jobs are going to be vanishing from our local market here in about a year. As a pastor, I know how hard it's been for people to find work. It's frustrating to think that there will be a few thousand more suddenly on the market. I wonder how many of them will eventually need to come to me or one of my colleagues, seeking assistance from the churches? How many will we be able to help?

Human sin leads to human pain, and there's been a whole lot of human sin (greed, envy, callousness, pride, lousy stewardship, and so forth) tied up in the Big Vehicle fad, both behind the wheel and behind the corporate desk. Could the plants that are being closed have been shifted over to some other, more sensible product before things got this far? It's a question we'll be left pondering here in southern Wisconsin for a long time.

The benefits of GM's announcement will be broad, and I'm glad for them... but I feel for the workers who are sacrificing their jobs today so that we'll have a cleaner, more fuel-efficient tomorrow.

Evansville gets a hotel

The rumors that have been circulating for some time have panned out - Evansville will be getting its first hotel next summer. From the sound of it, it will be a very nice property, with LCD TVs in every room and free WiFi - even four suites with jacuzzis. Although the original downtown location was unworkable, there's plenty of room on the east end of town where it's being built.

It's fun to see the development around town - this is a welcome addition!