Much Ado about Pluto

I have a confession to make. I'm one of those people known in the political arena as a persona non grata. In other words, I'm a political Moderate.

When I was younger, I was a die hard Liberal (as all good college kids, should be). Then I started working and paying taxes and entered what I call the "House buying and Kid Birthing years." This was during that time we lovingly called Reganomics. So I did what a lot of people of my generation did (secretly begged Jimmy Carter for forgiveness) and became a die hard Conservative.

Now that I'm a little older, I've swayed back (forgive me Ronald) into that grey sphere, that lovely no man's land known as Moderatism. Both loved and despised by the Right and Left, we're stuck somewhere in the middle. Which brings me to my subject: Pluto.

Just like a lot of people around the world, I've been watching the Pluto debate with much interest. As Stephen Colbert of the The Colbert Report says, "A thousand science projects hang in the balance!" By the way, I find that man so damn funny, and as a result, more than just a little sexy... but I digress.

So as someone who is constantly ribbed for her political "blandness", her "moderate-middle-of-the-road- politics", it cracks me up that the Pluto debate has become a victim of what I like to call Scientific Moderatism. Yup. The Scientific die hards on both sides lost out. When you don't like the definition of something, then make up another one. Of course, now that Scientific correctness means we will have to add 3 more planets to the solar system. My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas, is no more. Poor kids. How the heck are they going to add Charon, Ceres and best of all, Xena 2003 UB313 to that little science class mnemonic device?