Adventures with Dr. Lady Cutie Troublemaker

Just caught Ariana Huffington on The Henry Rollins Show. My dad’s really into her. I know she’s on the right side, but as you may or may not know, I am generally very avoidant of politics. It always makes me so cranky, especially with an administration like this one. Anyway, periodically, I like to plug my dad’s blog, 1 Boring Old Man, because I know most of my friends are liberals and are less politically avoidant than I. He’s been on a roll. I’m seeing multiple posts daily. The man’s wise. This, I know to be true. And plus, where else will you get the perspective of a psychoanalyst on the current political climate? Go.

An excerpt from his speech:

I call bullshit! Our President and Vice President are liars and have been from the start. They have lied to us. They’ve played on our patriotism, and conned us into supporting their misadventure long enough. We invaded Iraq for no valid reason that I can see. We’ve stayed in Iraq for no valid reason I can see. I’m ashamed that I went along with this folly. I’m sorry. I don’t care what does or does not happen with the “Surge.” I don’t care because our cause is wrong. We let an Oil Executive and a weak, unprincipled, ineffectual President lead us into a War of Oil Field Acquisition that has failed – as it should have failed. We’ve thrown away billions of dollars, thousands of lives, our place in the world, and our Constitution for absolutely no reason. I didn’t know that earlier, because they didn’t tell us or I was afraid to vote my “hunch.” But now I know. So I was wrong before. From this day forth, I’m obligated to do the right thing and vote against anything that prolongs this shameful blot on our history.

Link:

Read the whole thing on dad’s blog, 1 Boring Old Man.

So dad has been doing a little blogging. Check out “off the boat…” for more. And if you want to read a politically-liberal psychoanalyst’s take on the current administration, check the archives in the left sidebar on his main page!

What’s really funny is that In Budapest is the name of my favorite Ella Fitzgerald recording. I only realized this when I typed that into the Title field just now!

ANYWAY, I am pleased to report that Dad (aka “Parental Unit”) is blogging from their trip. Make sure you keep a watch on 1 Boring Old Man. Here’s an excerpt from the first trip-related post:

Like most places we’ve been in the world. The first day of a trip is about the differences. After that, it’s about the similarities.

Speaking of Web 2.0, I’ve had 3+ not necessarily unwelcome, but unprepared for run-ins this week. One was on the street, “IRL” as we say on the internets. The other 2+ were online. People who live nowhere near me popped up in a way I wasn’t expecting, and I wasn’t ready for it. This is one of the both fortunate and unfortunate aspects of life in the small town that is the internet. I can run into exes I don’t want to see, or long lost friends I’ve wondered about for years. I think that on the whole, I like it, but it makes social negotiations awful tricky. I have to set my filters, friend levels, contact lists, etc, so that I’m not running into people I don’t want to run into when I’m least prepared. And sometimes I don’t like the ways I have to set them, because I’m filtering out more than I want to…

As always, the cardinal rule is “Never accept an invitation to go crazy”. If a repeated run-in is causing me undo stress, gotta do what I gotta do. As my friend Jason has always said, “It’s just the internets”.