Jump (For My Love)-An Introduction

Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think of Hugh Grant's cheekily awkward British PM in the 2003 (greatest) film (of all time), Love Actually. Then I look at Gordon Brown's jowls on my BBC News front page and go back to crying into my bowl of Cheerios.

Welcome to Pol Vault, ostensibly a place for me to put all the things I usually just yell to my loved ones about. First, a few pieces of information about me. FYI now, though they may need to be taken as caveats for future posts:

-My name is Jonathan Roberts. I don't write anything anonymously, and I hope you won't either.
-I am from the Boston area, Massachusetts. I do love the Red Sox, and have since over a decade before 2004.
-I am a Republican, and I think like one, for better or for worse. I don't expect you to, so if you don't, please don't expect me to worship the false idol of your redeemer-president and the multitude of his Oval-ly Host. More on the first part in the months ahead...
-I am a Christian. Ditto to the false idol thing. I don't think it should mix with government and policy, but I think we'd be kidding ourselves if we pretended our gods or absence thereof didn't at least peripherally influence our thought and opinions.

Now, about the blog. The title reveals one more fact about me that will start to wear on those of you who begin reading this semi-regularly: I eat up puns like Sarah Palin eats up the tender flesh of the caribou. (And then I spew them out indiscriminately like Sarah Palin indiscriminately spews out words and, sometimes, sentences.) The pun behind this blog's title is twofold, and gives a clue to both my inspiration and goals for it. As a "vault" for all things "pol(itical)", I want PV to be a sounding board for locked-away ideas, be they mine or mine by theft, as well as a spotlight for locked-away news stories that your mainstream news sources might not have caught. I also hope to use PV as a means to "pole vault" over the bias and BS I can't help but find when I read, watch, or listen to politicians, political coverage, and coverage of political coverage.

And finally, I want PV to be a wide-open vault, so I hope you will help me in that endeavor. Talk back, agree/disagree, call me out, and help me make sure I'm achieving my mission. And on that note, I guess I'll jump in...