Now, back in the W.Bush era, and he’s rallying the troops, and Senate, House, whoever it was, to go along with his desire, em, obsession more like, of finishing what his daddy started in Iraq. So here we are post-9/11 and I have no TV and hadn’t had one since around the opening months of 2000 when I finally vacated the marital home and went out on my own, Mom died, then the dog name Dixie she loved had followed her not long after, and news became my way of zoning out of all that loss that had stolen many of my preconceived ideas of what life had in store for me.

Confused and poor, but being more a logistical issue than anything financial or ideological, I couldn’t afford the space for such an unnecessary great escape; I had the net, and a computer, and therefore far better sources to indulge my news junkie desires.

Since my exit from the abused as a child and clinically depressed ex-husband a couple years previous, whew, I was outa there and feeling free.

But 9/11 happened, and the difficult weeks that followed Mom’s cancer diagnosis happened, into the fall when she died, everyone else in the universe was glued to CNN, that news all day every day flagship, slap you in the face coverage of the aftermath, and I missed it all; occupied with my own tragedy and loss.

In the intervening days, before the next visit of the reaper to my door, and after, I began to sniff out the news forums for clues to where to look for more news, and came upon papers from around the globe, and the profound difference in what American articles said was going on, and what the English said was going on, or the German’s, or Dutch, or Swedes, or wherever.

The U.S. was washed clean with tears that came at the arrival of terrorism in the land, and everything changed. Fearful now more than ever of those Muslim zealots on their shore, raising their patriotic fist with a black crepe armband, oblivious to what the rest of the world thought, of them, and what was going on in, really, or specifically, going on in Iraq; and whether anyone at all found those cleverly hidden weapons of mass destruction Georgie promised were there, someone had a taste for war in their mouth, and of course Saddam was aiding Al Qaeda, didn’t all bad guys go to the same golf club or something? Well, besides the fact most intelligence on the ground suggested the opposite was fact, but few Americans heard about that.

Pipes of this thickness, and that, and details, details, it’s always about pesky details, that were shipped from Libya, {or wherever, can’t recall now where they came from} were not nuclear grade, or so everyone else said, but not the Americans. Holding forth the testimony beaten out of a Muslim who just happened to say everything they wanted him to, was all that was required to convince the lot, and thus W.Bush got his gawd damn war.

I remember watching that live address he made at my sisters, and all the arguments he used in justification, the rally the troops’ speech, and in disgust I made some smarmy comment and was booed down by my Brother-in-Law who said something about me being a something-something horrible something American.

I just told him to get his head out his arse, wake up, boy, I said, you’re being played, and left the room to get another beer, got one for him, and snarled the bottle at him on my return.

I was right, he was wrong, we all found out a few years later.

See, not being indoctrinated by cable news had advantages that far surpassed the monetary savings; I saved my hardwon peace of mind, and ability to make my own conclusions, rather than having it spoonfed 24/7 by well-dressed talking heads.

Today though, things have changed somewhat.

I actually do have a TV, but no antenna or Cable, strictly for DVDs; I know, how Medieval. Course, that matters a heck of a lot less now, and I’m certainly not alone in being without, nor unusual to not be contracted in blood to some premier cable package.

Generally, I don’t follow trends, as I have a habit of being oblivious to them. I’m no fashionista either, looking somedays more like the neighbourhood bag lady when I run across the street to pick up a few things; but the cashiers know me and don’t mind my weirdocrity, common to this part of town.

Today I could not with as much confidence say I can smell a fact from a lie a mile away, but I still have the bs detector, v5.0 or so, it’s just that the delivery has changed, the presentation, comes from nowhere and everywhere, and is more difficult to avoid in our trumped up, all day, every day, always-on access to anti-boredom devices.

Though I’m still not nupt up as most, with a 6-year-old piece of crap that takes 5 minutes just to load Facebook, and two days for messenger and god no thank you Instagram or twits on tweeter I have no time for, distractions I’m perfectly fine ignoring.

So, all in, the point is, I think I still got the knack. Therefore I see this current political, or maybe constitutional, showdown of the good vs the evil lefty snowball unfolding down yonder is not so out of my league, but a completely different ball of twine at its core, and blatant racist thought and no-action spreading hate like the Spanish Flu.

W.Bushy didn’t play ball with Russian gangsters (that I know of), strayed as far as he could from pissing off the neighbours, and lied, but certainly didn’t lie half as well as this one does. No, this guy’s in a league of his own.

Sure, the end game is short-term less bloody, and the bodies are foreign, not dead, but we’re still in the early innings of his term(s) {gawd help us all no}

And, certainly, the 45th doesn’t have Georgie porgy’s knack with diplomacy (words I thought I’d never say). Though, if either of them has read Tolstoy I’d be shocked, just sayin’; but what do I know, Bushy surprises me all the time.

Yet, the bonfires of Georgie’s vanity are still blowing sparks before our jaded eyes, and the aftershocks are still being felt today.

Oh, we’ve come a long way, baby.