...and to think the Dixie Chicks' careers were ruined

"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so
certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts."
- Bertrand Russell

I haven't posted too often about political issues on my blog, although I hope to do more of that in the near future, perhaps even starting separate blog to do so. Part of the reason is that I don't want to alienate friends who may disagree with my points of view. I believe reasonable people can disagree reasonably, but you never know who's going to go unreasonable on you.

This whole Ted Nugent vs. President Obama thing compels me to write at least a little. As might be apparent in my few political posts, I tend to "lean left." The best way I could describe what I mean by that is if you were to take, say, 20 hot-button issues of the day, I would probably be on the "left" on about 13 of them, give or take. Relative to, that is, the general populace, NOT what the Fox News folks would want you to believe.

So while Bill O'Reilly no doubt would call the likes of me "far left" (to help move the perceived center as he is wont to do), the Nuge reminds me of one issue that gets me going sometimes. If you were to believe him and his NRA brethren, you'd believe guys like I want to take everyone's guns away. They even use the fact that Obama has attempted no such thing as an argument that he will do so if reelected.

That people believe this stuff is mind numbing.

It won't help, I'm sure, but I can definitively say that I know many, many people who are left of me politically. My wife, in fact, is a deer-lover. She'd swerve to miss a deer even if it meant putting pedestrians' lives in jeopardy. And yet I can say this with 100% honesty: I know of absolutely no one who wants to take away your or anyone's guns.

Sure, many like myself want reasonable laws to keep up with the times. Did our Forefathers have semi-automatics, or even nuclear weapons in mind when they considered the Second Amendment? So laws like waiting periods seem to make sense. This is no less an attack on the 2nd than saying you can't scream "Fire!" in a crowded theatre is on the 1st.

Put simply, it's a lie that people like the Motor City Madman keep perpetuating.

But if anyone reading this already believes it, I doubt my words have made an iota of difference.

Fenway Park and the Pebble Beach of The East

After checking StubHub nearly daily for over a month, I finally found five tickets that were decent enough, and reasonably priced enough, for the Boston Red Sox vs. Cleveland game May 10 at Fenway Park. Author Harvey Mackay once wrote, "A dream is a bargain at any price." So I could have spent more and justified it, but as I posted last month, I need to mind our budget.

I had a chance to buy a pair of State Street Pavilion Club tickets for $80 (face value is $170), but knew that my wife and I would likely be going to the game with her friend and her friend's kids. It wasn't easy to find five together that worked out price- and location-wise. Fenway Park is a "bucket list" item for me, but I wasn't going to settle for being 500 feet from home plate just to save a buck or two hundred. So for some $66+ per ticket after fees, we got our seats.

In fact, only four of them are together, and one is directly behind the four. I figure I'll take the one, while my wife catches up with her friend and helps with the kids. So that will be fine. I just won't be able to save their lives when a line drive comes their way while I'm watching every pitch, and they're comparing stories of motherhood.

My wife has interesting friends, in a good way. This particular friend happens to be a fairly recent Mrs. New Hampshire winner. Her husband is bass player for the metal band (or whatever genre you call their style) Godsmack, one of the few bands of their ilk that I quite enjoy.

(I don't think they'll mind my bragging about knowing them; I would guess that they pity me enough to offer their support.)

In fact, the idea was to get together when the band wasn't touring so that he could go, too, and when I reached out to her, she didn't think they'd be touring yet in early May. As it turns out, they are, and had I booked the trip for just a week later, their concerts would have been close enough to the Boston/New England area to meet up with the whole family. But I wasn't confident that I'd be able to find an open week to trade my RCI timeshare, as the Samoset Resort, where we're staying in Rockland, Maine, is pretty popular once spring gets going.

I'm pretty pumped for that part of the trip, too, as another "bucket list" item of mine is to play golf at Pebble Beach. Until I decide to take out a home equity loan to pay Pebble's fees (plus mandatory stay at the Lodge at Pebble Beach), Samoset, a.k.a. "The Pebble Beach of the East," will have to do. The sub-$100 greens fees make me smile, too.