This political stuff is above my pay grade

OK, I give up. For the past Lord-knows-how-many-months, I've been following the campaigns, the transition, and now the new administration in an effort to be as informed and participative a citizen as I can be. I'm reading all the day's news, visiting blogs and web sites I never bothered with before -- and not just those I tend to agree with, but those that offer a broad range of opinions and analysis.

Here is why I'm confused: In today's paper, there's a story about the new budget bill that passed in the US House yesterday that potentially will include upwards of $25 million for one of our local school districts.

On the same page, there's a story about how the post office may now need to cut one of its delivery days and do to 5-days-per-week delivery due to lack of funds.

Um... am I missing something?

The smoke and mirrors required to understand the federal budget and its impact on our economy are most certainly beyond the capacity of this former English major.

I'm going back to reading stories about trampy tween idols and hyper-sexual teenagers and outlandish cell phone bills for parents who don't pay attention to what their kids are doing.

At least that stuff makes sense to me.