This is Post #550!!!(eleventy * five)!!!

At first, I was thinking of making a post of exactly 550 words, to celebrate. But I can't be bothered to both count that high and that precisely.

Instead, for post #600, I'll put up six individual ^^original^ drabbles (though some may be repeats and rewrites). Consider this a countdown.

In the meantime, the most rare thing to appear from me on these pages: local news.

The first big thing around here (which you may not have heard through national news) is the angst and general teeth-gnashing Pentagon's recent decision to put Naval Air Station Oceana on the Base Realignment And Closure Commision's list for base closings. The problem with it, from the Navy's p.o.v., is two-fold: 1) It was never intended to be a long-term jet base, anyway, and 2) The City of Virginia Beach, in its wisdom hunger for more tax revenue, has, over the last twenty years, pushed for residential and commercial development over the Navy's safety objections. In other words, they've built houses and malls and more houses, right up to the end of the runways -- right in the crash zone (there are 27 schools in the crash zone, folks). Meanwhile, Good Ol' Jeb Bush has been pushing for all the jets to be moved down to a base in his state, Florida. The Commission had a meeting in VA this afternoon, and it was aired live on all my tv stations this afternoon. The final vote was to give the city of VA Beach (and, I think, Chesapeake [my city] too) until March of next year to use emminant domain buy back all the private property, except industrial, and comdemn it (forcing I don't know how many people out of their homes), or lose the jets to Florida.

I don't know quite how I feel about this. On the one hand, the evil side of my Leftist heart wonders if this area would be more leftist, politically, if the Navy and Air Force weren't such a strong pressence (and if we lose the jets to Florida, there may an extra bit of resentment against the Bush family come the next election). On the other hand, if the city does buy back all that land, and it goes back to being undeveloped, I'm sure there are all sorts of wild critters who would be much happier. On the one, um, foot, if the city buys back the land, that's an awful lot of families (Who had bought their homes in good faith, and who had done nothing wrong) getting the short end of the stick. On the other foot, if Oceana loses the jets, that's a major economic blow to the area; while the economy will likely rebound eventually, in the meantime, that would mean cutbacks in social services, many of which I would really like to stick around.

So, yeah. Dum-de-Dum... we'll just have to see what happens.

The second big local thing (Which you probably have heard about) is that Pat Robertson used his TV show to say that U.S. Operatives should "take out" the president of Venezuela. Um. Yeah. Today, he's saying that he never meant "assassinate," but the comment certainly won't do anything to calm Chavez's paranoia, now, will it (err... "Just because you're paranoid, doesn't mean they're not out to get you")?

And remember, this is the same guy who, with Jerry Falwell, blamed the ACLU, gays, Pagans and Feminists, for the attacks on 9/11 (Just days afterward, too): "It is happening because God Almighty is lifting his protection from us. We have a court that has essentially stuck its finger in God's eye. … We have insulted God at the highest level of our government."

Now, I know that Robertson doesn't speak for all Christians, or even for most, world-wide. But he's a big local hero among the Evangelical Christians around here.

Now, do you understand why I'm a bit of a hermit, and spend my time socializing through LJ, rather than chatting over a cup of coffee with the neighbor ladies?


:::Headdesk::: Waaah!! I want a TARDIS!! Now!!!