Not sure my heart WILL go on

So here I was, all ready to dive into a political blog when my entire body, quite abruptly, decided it wasn't in the mood for my shit ANY more.  My arrhythmia, which isn't caused by stress, yet is aggravated by it, went crazy.  It went craziest when I felt myself ramping up for a political fight.  I mean CRAZY craziest.  Volleys, salvos, honest-to-Christ, full-on automatic weapons fire.  Crazy.  My hypocrite sister, the IRA-loving Palestinian hater, posted some crappy, transparent bit of bullshit about oh, so noble Israel on Facebook and my heart literally TWISTED in my chest.  The only thing worse than a stupid, wrong-headed, ignorant position is a stupid, wrong-headed, ignorant position put forth as nothing more than a jab.  Yeah, that's the kicker--when the politics being spat out are borne of pettiness and a love of causing grief rather than any actual understanding or thought.  And that was it--I was done.  I removed her from my friends list, took my whole game, ball, bat, AND mitt, and moved it all over to another account.  One where I don't have to worry about the games, the meanness, the possibility (probability?) of grief or drama.

That doesn't save me, though.  Because, though she's better able to slide a dagger of spite between my ribs, fact is, politics in general kill me anymore.  It's not just my poor, twisting, twitching heart.  It's my blood pressure, it's my newly diagnosed diabetes.  It's those things, and how they react when I argue nuclear power with money-grubbing nuke fans, or when I find myself battling against folks who sexualize breastfeeding or claim that children emulating nursing grow up to be sexually precocious (pregnant at 12!).  I can feel my blood pressure leaping skyward when the nards start raving about the evil Muslims taking over America or the evilness of universal health care.  And I just don't know.  I just don't know if I have it in me.  I've actually gone on something of a news strike, blocking most of my news feeds because I just can't handle seeing how many Palestinians were murdered today (remember--1 Israeli is worth a hundred Palestinians, at least that's how it appears, judging by the body count), yet didn't make the mainstream media.  I can't deal with even one more idiot politician suggesting (with a hand full of lobbyist cash) that we start building nuke plants in UTAH, which is not only seismically active, it's also a DESERT.

So I'm trying to swear it all off.  Which may spell the end of my baby political blog.  Dang it.

Cancelling a Boy's Dream

Two years ago, we missed the airshow at the local Air Force base.  The weather was utter crap, and we figured we'd just go to the next one.  See, our boy was just getting into jets and the like, and we figured waiting one year wouldn't kill him.  Problem was, there wasn't a show the next year.  Oh, bad Mommy and Daddy!  We managed to get him to a markedly smaller show one state over, but it wasn't the same. 

2011?  That was going to be different.  The big Air Force base show was going to be back, it was all laid out and pre-announced.  And oh, our boy was excited!  Even with our (hopefully) impending move cross-country, he was going to see the BIG airshow!

And then he wasn't.

Due to the current budget-busting bagger fever, our airshow has been cancelled.  Kaput. Gone.  Just another thing those miserable twats have done to screw up our life and make our world just a little uglier.  "Budgetary concerns."  I have to ask--how much does an airshow cost?  Okay, now how much does it cost to keep lobbyists on the payroll?  Or, hey, here's one--how much does it cost to keep flipping tax cuts to rich people?

Or here we go--how much does a fucking war cost?  A war we lied our way into, a war not meant to protect American interests (or even "spread democracy"), but rather a grudge match and an oil snatch?  How much is that still costing us?  Because I have an idea--let's cancel a war instead, and have all the airshows we want.  Heck, stop two wars and we won't just have money for airshows, we'll have money for danged near everything we want. 

And yes, I know the air show cancellation isn't really about money, but rather about the appearance of frugality.  Because around here, it's all about appearance rather than substance.

The Pinko Intellectual Speaks

First post, and let's clear something up right away:  I'm not a "pinko," and I likely don't qualify as an "intellectual" in the traditional sense of the word.  However, I've been called both (once at the same time), and I rather like the idea.  Hence the name.

What I really am?  A 45 year old sometimes-writer, home-schooling parent, and full-time political commentator. Yes, I'm one who drives folks crazy on Facebook with my near-constant politicizing.  So I've decided to let some of it spill over here; a release-valve of sorts.  That way, it will be a small bit easier for those who don't wish to partake to avoid my holding forth on political issues.  Of course, I won't completely abandon my Facebook soapboxing--where's the joy in that?

I hope I can come up with something entertaining, interesting, and informative here.  And fun, of course.  Because if it's not fun, what's the freakin' point?