Friday Pussy Blog

Miss Siam has assumed the position.

Thanks to Rebecca for contributing her Psalm....


The Psalm of Nine Lives - A Prayer to My Cat

My cat is my Shepherd;
I shall not be able to sit without first seeing to His needs.
He maketh me to keep His bowl full.
He leadeth me to turn on the running water.
He restoreth my soul.
He standeth in the path of my run to the phone,
tripping me to the floor for His name's sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of
His morning offerings on the carpet,
I will never be lonely, For He is with me.
Thy purr and Thy sweet face,
They comfort me.
Thou walketh across the desk before me
in the presence of reports and paperwork.
Thou annointest my head with Thy tongue,
My cup runneth over.
Surely goodness and love shall follow me
to the kitchen all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the House of my Cat.

New Poll Positive for Democrats

Frankly, I'm not sure what the Democrats have done to reap this harvest. Anything looks good after so many years of Republican dominance.

Americans by an almost 3-to-1 margin hold the GOP-controlled Congress in low regard and profess a desire to see Democrats wrest control after a dozen years of Republican rule.

Further complicating the GOP outlook to turn things around is a solid percentage of liberals, moderates and even conservatives who say they'll vote Democratic.

Eric Bean, 24, a college minister in Fort Worth, Texas said, "I'd much rather see a Congress that would support our president. I think George Bush is doing the best he can. I think Republicans will support him."

"Doing the best he can?" Don't we deserve much better than his best?

Prior to a barbeque dinner with a freshly slaughtered wild boar served in his honor, Bush responded to a double-barreled question in a meeting with reporters concerning the growing crises in the Middle East. “I thought you were going to ask me about the pig.”

Always good to know his priorities are in order.

you got a problem peeing here?

This is urinal creativity at its best. The urinals were installed in a McDonald's restaurant in the Netherlands.... until an American tourist filed a complaint to have them removed.

Misty, a contributor at Shakespeare's Sister, has a hilarious RANTING post on this tourist at her blog,
expostulation.

Sure, it's odd and quirky, but who wants to piss into a plain white urinal?

Damn...now I have the urge to dress up like Dr. Frank-N-Furter.

Who ya callin' a sodomite?

Here's a related piece from Bay Windows I found over at Pam's House Blend.

This photo does make me laugh. They'd better get busy on legislation up there in the great Commonwealth of Massachusetts to strip away rights for those who engage in sodomy. I hear it's running rampant in the heterosexual community as well. Homes might need to be retrofitted with infrared cameras courtesy of the Department of Homeland Security in order to prevent this menace from spreading.

Might we need to build more prisons?

a Mass. reprieve

Massachusetts lawmakers delayed a vote on a proposed constitutional amendment to outlaw same-sex marriage until after the November election. The vote had been expected on Wednesday.

This tactic has disappointed bible-beating proponents of the amendment who no doubt will be go to the polls with ambitions of installing lawmakers who support this bigoted trash.

Even in the most liberal of states, putting an issue such as this before voters is absurd. Those favoring a ban on same sex marriage will go to the polls in droves with the belief that God is on their side, and no doubt feeling that casting such a vote will help to secure them a seat with the heavenly father.

It's unfortnate that opponents of the amendment do not seem to have the same compelling drive to vote. There are plenty of gays & lesbians who, for some bizarre reason, are ambivalent about the issue.

Why anyone could maintain a ho-hum attitude about their opportunity for equality being stripped away is beyond my comprehension.

Here's one quote:

``This just goes to show the corruption of the Legislature," said Jim Rickert , 53, a Quincy resident who said he had been involved in the battle to ban gay marriage for years and who watched the proceedings from the House gallery. ``You'll see. The people are going to get more and more upset that they're not being represented, and they're not going to let it go."

The Boston Globe has related stories:

Delay frustrates amendment backers

Globe Editorial

Wednesday reflection of Tuesday night

Last night I decided to just kick back with a bottle of merlot, and the Fiona bootleg first release of Extraordinary Machine, and ponder what had already transpired in recent weeks.

For the past few years it has become painfully obvious why democracy doesn't always work, and certainly isn't always in the best interest of all citizens.

Why does a majority have the right to dictate to a minority, even if it flies in the face of the so-called freedoms we supposedly share equally in the United States of America? Of course, I'm talking about the religion-brainwashed masses who somehow have taken it upon themselves to dictate to others what is right or wrong.

I find it infuriating that heterosexual right-wing activists continue to fan the flames of bigotry and fear and have voted in overwhelming majorities to put down my relationship which is quite simply just as valid and ordinary as theirs. Queer folks are small in numbers and will never be a majority (and if they were, I can assure you there would not be the same put-down of heterosexuals we are now seeing from the right-wing).

Freedom of religion (as well as freedom FROM religion) includes legislation which comes from a lop-sided and repressive religious viewpoint. In that regard, we are failing as a country that supposedly embraces the Constitution. I'm fed up with fundamentalist Christians (or anyone else) slinging their so-called belief systems in my face when they don't acknowledge even the most basic and fundamental teachings of Christ. "Judge not.." comes to mind immediately. Do you people need a pagan to teach you about your own "Lord and Savior?" It would seem so.

This is why we have 3 branches of government. "Activist" judges and the Supreme Court are here to protect us from those "masses" which, through a popular vote would subjugate a minority. If slavery had been left to a popular vote in the south, I wonder when slavery would have been abolished? 1970? 1980? Would we still have it in some states? (or do we, I might add?)

Sadly, even the judicial branch seems to be hijacked lately. This does not bode well for our nation.

Looking at the pathetic state of the Democrats and Republicans, I wonder why the hell there isn't a viable socialist or other leftest movement brewing. I've been mumbling on various blogs lately about wanting to "throw in the towel" and this is why.

I despise the two-party system we currently have. I have seen erosion on the left to the point where there's only the right-wing and a right-of-center. Nothing else. Did anyone see the John Dean interview on the Daily Show? He called himself a "Goldwater Republican" and said that's now considered left-of-center. How true.

There was a letter to the editor in our local Austin paper this morning that sums it all up. The writer was asserting that liberals, including the media, are the most dangerous force in the war on terrorism.

OK, where do I go turn myself in, or will they come and find me? Just keep me out of Gitmo.

"Be kind to me,
or treat me mean,
I'll make the most of it I'm an extraordinary machine."

I'm not the praying type, but if I were, I'd be praying for an uprising. We could sure use it.

UPDATE: Here's a classic example of what I'm ranting about. Both sides in the gay marriage debate are rallying in Boston today:

• "I think this is an issue for the people to decide," said Jonathan Gal, 39, of Lexington, wearing a sticker that read "Support One Man, One Woman." "I don't like the way this is being imposed on us by a small minority — the courts and the Legislature."

BUT... he already has HIS rights!!! One man, one woman is supported already!

• Across the street, supporters of same-sex unions cast the issue as one of civil rights. "When does civil rights get put on the ballot for everyone to vote on?" said Jim Singletary, 44, of Salem, who last year married his longtime partner, Jim Maynard.

YUM!

Columnist Robert Novak said publicly for the first time Tuesday that White House political adviser Karl Rove was a source for his story outing the identity of CIA officer Valerie Plame.


Sweet!

Bush outraged by attacks on train in India

Who gives a shit what this asshole thinks? I doubt the sincerity. Did he have to put down his copy of "The Pet Goat" to issue this statement?

"The United States stands with the people and the government of India and condemns in the strongest terms these atrocities, which were committed against innocent people as they went about their daily lives," Bush said in a written statement issued Tuesday evening while he was traveling in Wisconsin. (Hmmm, wonder what he was doing in Wisconsin..)

(I condemn in the strongest terms the atrocities that are being committed against the Constitution of the United States.)

Earlier, while at an Allen-Edmonds Shoe Corp. factory in Port Washington, Wis., Bush had declined to react in person to the bombs. "No comments today, thank you very much," he told reporters who asked about the attacks.

That's odd. Was he waiting on someone to write his fucking script for him?

The "greening" of Wal-Mart

Gore to present his film during Wal-Mart visit

A few weeks ago came the rather surprising news that Wal-Mart would begin carrying organic products in their stores. Now Al Gore will carry the message of his global warming documentary to the gargantuan retailer's headquarters in Bentonville, Ark.

Here's some excerpts from an article in today's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette by Lynda Edwards.

Former Vice President Al Gore will screen his global warming documentary at Wal-Mart’s headquarters Wednesday, one of several unexpected audiences finding common ground with the loser (only in the electoral college, missy!) of a divisive presidential race.

Wal-Mart spokesman Dan Fogelman said Gore will show his movie, An Inconvenient Truth, give a speech and answer audience questions. Gore spokesman Kalee Kreider said Wal-Mart Chief Executive Officer H. Lee Scott invited Gore a month ago to speak at Wednesday’s quarterly gathering of Wal-Mart Stores Inc.’s environmental group. The Wal-Mart group was founded after an October speech Scott gave to workers. He promised Wal-Mart would invest at least $500 million annually to achieve three environmental goals: zero waste, 100 percent renewable energy and ecofriendly products.

Gore will face another surprising audience in early August when he discusses global warming with Fox News owner Rupert Murdoch in Pebble Beach, Calif. Murdoch spokesman Andrew Butcher said Murdoch invited Gore to show his film and discuss global warming with Murdoch and his executives.

None of this changes my opinion of Wal-Mart yet. I have not shopped there in years and have no plans to change. While I applaud anyone who sees value in offering organic products, the sheer size and clout of Wal-Mart creates some uncomfortable scenarios. Rather than supporting small independent (if there are any of those left who haven't been bought up*) organic suppliers, mega-corporations such as Kraft, Pepsi, General Mills and Kellogg are gearing up product lines to fill the organic niche at Wal-Mart. And there's nothing "green" about supporting them.

Wal-Mart is already the biggest seller of organic milk, but with 2,000 supercenters, it could soon be the nation's largest seller of organic products, surpassing Whole Foods.

* General Mills Inc. has acquired Cascadian Farms, French food giant Groupe Danone bought a stake in Stonyfield Farm, H.J. Heinz Co. has invested in Hain Celestial Group Inc., and Dean Foods purchased Horizon Organic.

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. operates Wal-Mart discount stores, supercenters, Neighborhood Markets and SAM’S CLUB locations in the United States. The company has operations in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Germany, Guatemala, Honduras, Japan, Mexico, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico, South Korea and the United Kingdom.

Tom Petty: "Bush will have day in hell"

Since I'm on a music kick this morning, I found this post at DownWithTyranny! which mentioned an Esquire interview in which Petty was quoted:

"The war in Iraq is shameful. Whether you're pro or con Bush, you've got to admit it: The guy lied. And he continues to do so. I can't understand why he's just not run out on a rail. To send somebody's kids off and have them killed for no good reason-- he's going to have his day in hell for that..."

BRING IT ON!

Syd Barrett, founder of Pink Floyd, is dead at 60

syd barrett...

...the troubled genius who co-founded Pink Floyd but spent his last years in reclusive anonymity, has died, a spokeswoman for the band said Tuesday.

Another protest against homophobic artists

I am officially and proudly joining other bloggers in protest of this event scheduled for July 18.

HoustonVoice and others are covering the story.

Author, activist and blogger Keith Boykin , in a blast e-mail sent July 10, said the concert must be stopped because giving such anti-gay musicians a platform only furthers homophobia.

...

The LIFEbeat website is here.

Jody Miller, publicist for LIFEbeat, said “We know some of the problems of their lyrics, but our belief is that the dialogue is good. Education and enlightenment can help the artists see the broader picture."

Why bring in anti-gay rappers to raise funds for a disease that heavily impacts gay men? “There is tremendous sensitivity to that,” Miller said.

“Our board and staff thought long and hard about it. But we believe the potential benefits to the community will outweigh the potential negativity.”

Opposition Growing To Wisconsin Anti-Gay Amendment

Finally, some hope in Wisconsin.

The situation in Massachusetts is nauseating. We have ONE state out of 50 with legal marriage rights and, even in Massachusetts, I fear the outcome if the issue is put to voters.

A new poll suggests that voter support for amending the Wisconsin constitution to block same-sex marriage is declining.

Support and opposition to the proposed amendment is virtually a dead heat.

The latest poll, sponsored by Wispolitics.com, a nonpartisan political news site, shows 49 percent supporting the amendment and 48 percent opposed.

A kinder, gentler bigot

Oh, please!


Mr. Santorum, the third-ranking Republican leader in the Senate, distributed a brochure this week as he worked a sweltering round of town hall meetings and Fourth of July parades: "Fifty Things You May Not Know About Rick Santorum." It is filled with what he called meat and potatoes, like his work to expand colon cancer screenings for Medicare beneficiaries (No. 3), or to secure money for "America's first ever coal to ultra-clean fuel plant" (No. 2).

Anybody wanna buy a hat?

Oh Canada, you look so sweet...

all eyes on Wednesday.

The Massachusetts legislature may decide on Wednesday whether a proposed constitutional amendment to ban future same-sex marriages will be placed on the ballot after the Supreme Judicial Court ruled it can be.

It's great to be a white man in America

Is your town turning to
shit? Blame it on non-whites.

Tom Macklin, the mayor of Avon Park, Florida is proposing a city ordinance to deny business permits to companies that knowingly hired illegal immigrants. The ordinance, which states that illegal immigration "destroys our neighborhoods and diminishes our overall quality of life," would also make English the official language of Avon Park, removing Spanish from all city documents, signs and automated phone messages. (I think if they were legal it would make no difference to him.)

"We just wouldn't be able to stay here," said Armando Garcia Cortes, 45, who said he came to Avon Park, about 80 miles southeast of Orlando, from Veracruz, Mexico, to pick oranges and fix roofs. "They're going to see the farmworker population here drop. We would all be leaving."

John Koch, who sells glassware and model cars at the Broken Spoke Flea Market on Main Street, (and who is white) said that would be fine.

Melva Santana, a shopkeeper who was among a crowd of whites, blacks and Hispanics eating at Taqueria Merlo on Thursday, said she feared the ordinance would encourage people who had kept their prejudices quiet to begin harassing immigrants.

This week, Ms. Santana said, a sales clerk refused to sell her sister beer because she had a Puerto Rico driver's license, and the clerk said, "I can't read it."

Hmmm, aren't birth years the same in English and Spanish?

on being respectful

respect is a physical manifestation of cowardice.

the advent of photography was a cultural revolution.

It eeks out in increments

you don't understand modern prose that drips from the trees that hung so many innocents.

ahh, the agony of ill-repute.

start your ovens...

star city, mountain view, and rohwer, three peas in a pod.

Who asked for lights? I was enjoying the darkness.

The Enormous Dick award goes to...

...Governor Mike Huckabee of Arkansas who is probably not well known outside the state. That is quickly changing as he dips his bigoted toes into presidential waters and gets noticed by other
high profile bloggers who have widespread appeal.

Huckabee was speaking at the opening of a three-day fundraising campaign for Republican legislative candidates in Iowa, and had to spew this Baptist bile:

“What we are talking about is whether the state should place a child in a relationship that is not recognized by the state as a marriage."

“Marriage has historically never meant anything other than a man and a woman. It has never meant two men, two women, a man and his pet, or a man and a whole herd of pets,” he said.
Huckabee said activists “want to change rules that have been in place for thousands of years.”

He's an ASS. If he wants to dredge up thousands of years of marriage history as our moral guiding light, perhaps he should go do some reading on the history of marriage, including child marriages.
In Afghanistan , it is believed that between 60 and 80 percent of marriages are forced marriages.

The intellect of the man can easily be measured by his reference to bestiality which has absolutely fuck-all to do with this issue. But it's a convenient and effective pandering tool when speaking to other inferior morons whose homophobia coats them like Neanderthal fur.

Here is an excerpt from an article in today's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette by Jim Hannah, the chief justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court which recently ruled by a vote of 7-0 that Arkansas' ban on gay foster parents was unconstitutional:

Last year, 6,399 children were in foster care in Arkansas and 436 of those children in foster care are waiting to be adopted. The majority of our children are placed back in homes with parents or relatives. Yet, each year more than 200 Arkansas youth turn 18 without a family to continue to offer support. When you view the system, through the eyes of a child, the need for foster care reform is clear.

But instead of sensible and practical foster care reform, Huckabee is harping about the legislature recrafting a ban on gays serving as foster parents.

In March of 2005, someone started this
Huckabee for President blog. If you want to really get your panties in a knot, check it out. It'll quickly become clear why this guy belongs in the pulpit rather than the White House (or the Governor's mansion).

Then go here for an anti-Huckabee website with the delectable URL: mikehuckabee.com. Oh, that's gotta piss him off!

Staying the course....

Always glad to see we have things under control in Baghdad, if not all of Iraq.


From the BBC.

Gunmen in the Iraqi capital Baghdad have killed at least 40 people at a fake police checkpoint, in an apparent sectarian attack against Sunni Muslims.

Later, at least 17 people died when two car bombs exploded near a Shia mosque in the capital, police said.

The death toll reports keep going higher before I can even post this.

And today’s New York Times reports
US Military Braces for Flurry of Criminal Cases in Iraq.

No American serviceman has been executed since 1961. But in the past month, new cases in Iraq have led to charges against 12 American servicemen who may face the death penalty in connection with the killing of Iraqi civilians.

Some of the men under investigation in Iraq had done multiple tours in Iraq, and that, too, may have played a role.

"LEAVE OR DIE" -- Racism in America

Today's Austin American-Statesman has an extensive and horrifying spread called "Leave or Die."



[photo credit: Jay Janner AMERICAN-STATESMAN]

Jesse Jackson (you'd think he'd want to change his name!) of Blanford, Ind., says that when black people come to town, 'my friends and I run them out.' The roots of racist violence run deep in Blanford: In 1923, when the Ku Klux Klan controlled the area, whites drove out the entire black population. Vermillion County has remained 99 percent white.

The American-Statesman clearly put a lot of time and effort into the history of racial expulsion in various towns and counties in the U.S.
Read for yourself.. There's a lot of content to this shameful malignity which began in the 1800s and is obviously present to this day.

Unfortunately, I'm having problems accessing some of the text from the interactive online site so I'll manually enter some quotes here from my hardcopy of the paper.

Whites often applauded when the expulsions occurred. In Arkansas, the Boone County Chamber of Commerce noted in a 1920s-era marketing brochure that the town did not have "mosquitoes or Negroes."

A similar brochure published around the turn of the century touting Comanche County, Texas, about 110 miles northwest of Austin, pointed out that it's population "is entirely and absolutely ALL WHITE; there is not a negro in the county, and the chances are there will not be any for many years to come."

Although more than a century has passed, the county remains virtually devoid of African-Americans...

A city employee in the county was quoted as saying "You don't see many of them (African Americans). It's noticeable when you do."

Check out the site. Even if you have the same problems I'm having accessing the text of the story, there are plenty of statistics and charts worth viewing.

Military Deaths

Cox News, owner of our local Austin American-Statesman has a nifty interactive map with details on military deaths from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Link here to the interactive map.

As you look at the map, consider the impact of each lost life on family and friends of those who gave their lives. It's hard to comprehend.

Fiona Apple : Not About Love (Play this LOUD!)

A Night with the Sullen Girl

Last night was the long-awaited Fiona Apple concert at
The Backyard, an outdoor venue just a short drive from our abode.

First, for anyone thinking of seeing Fiona Apple, consider this. Either pick a venue with general admission as we did, or get seats close enough to see her face. Otherwise, you are missing 80% of the performance. And do not underestimate her popularity. If you are lucky enough to attend a general admission venue, be prepared to be packed in tight.

We took our place in line before the doors opened at 6:30 so we were fortunate to be among the first several hundred in the gate. I grabbed us a couple of beers and we took our position as close to the stage as possible, about 15 feet back. I had no idea we would soon be locked into position.



One thing we always enjoy about seeing a band for the first time is predicting what the audience will be like. Being in our mid-40s I expected the crowd to be mostly late 20s to early 50s. As we stood in the throng, txrad was first to comment: "I have ear piercings older than most of these kids."

I felt like I was at some large high school function where I didn't know anyone. The upside was that the bar areas were pretty much guaranteed to offer short lines with a crowd this young.

This is Austin, Texas in July. It could have been worse, much worse. But even with temperatures in the low to mid-80s, it was extremely uncomfortable standing in a mass of 98 degree bodies, all exhaling more hot air.

The air was thick and heavy. The occasional aroma of pastrami, patchouli, and Mexican weed would drift over us.

David Garza opened the show. The great (dare I say, "Fiona-esque") songwriter and guitarist was popular with the crowd. Next up was Damien Rice, an Irish songwriter who was worshipped immensely by the youngest in the crowd. I was not familiar with his music, only his name. But anyone who writes about dicks, sex, and masterbation with such eloquence has my vote of confidence!

Damien Rice was so popular that I became delusional and held some hope that the crowd would clear away from the stage after his set. I could not have been more wrong. As soon as his band left the stage, I felt the crowd tighten. My highly-coveted 6-inches of personal space suddenly became 2-inches, and the heat index soared. I murmurred farewell to any hope of having a 2nd beer or a pee unless I wanted to forfeit my prized position.

txrad, being a North Dakota native, doesn't share my heat tolerance, me being a native of the sweltering deep South delta, just across the river from where Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil. However, it was a bit much, even for me.

Fortunately, it was a short wait before Fiona and her band took to the stage. txrad managed to suffer through about 3 songs before retreating to the rear of the amphitheatre for air. Fiona was contorting and wincing, and complaining of the heat. Her magnetic allure proved too much for even me. After an hour of the humid funk, the uncomfortable uncertainty of what Fiona was going to do next, and the raging teenage hormones around me, my libido was tied in a tight knot.
Plus I was absorbing too much angst and becoming irritable. Little did I realize, that was the show.

I mistakenly decided to plow my way out of the mayhem.



I located txrad who seemed to be enjoying the concert more from a distance. He enjoys watching people as well so he was in his element. He told me he had watched two lesbians humping, and had also seen someone hauled away on a stretcher.

But from this distance, Fiona was merely a blur with a familiar voice. I had lost my connection. I began to crave that which I had willingly abandoned. The crowd from our new vantage point was also far less involved. They were hearing the music but certainly were not witnessing the performance. For those people, I'd recommend saving the $50, buy Extraordinary Machine with the DVD footage for $15 and enjoy it for hours. For me, the whole point of seeing Fiona is to experience the brilliant suffering and agony. It was there, in abundance, for those willing to be lacerated.



I'll let you see me,
I'll covet your regard
I'll invade your demeanor
And you'll yield to me
like a scent in the breeze
And you'll wonder what it is about me
It's my big secret -
Keeping you coming
Slow like honey, heavy with mood

this is not about love (try obsession)

Photo credit: Brian K. Diggs; Austin American-Statesman

The Sundance Channel brought together Quentin Tarantino and Fiona Apple under the Congress Avenue bridge in Austin on Thursday night for some of our
bat watching.

Txrad and yours truly are heading out to the Backyard in Bee Cave to catch the concert tonight. I will endeavor to restrain myself! Most likely, I'll be in a trance at the first haunting note of her piano.

Watch for my unprofessional and totaly biased review on Saturday.

Mexican voters take the "safe" approach

More Mexican election analysis.

By JULIE WATSON of the AP:
MEXICO CITY - Felipe Calderon won Mexico's presidential election not because of who he is, but because of who he isn't. After peacefully ushering in democracy only six years ago, many Mexicans were not ready to shake up the status quo and flip the country on its head with a leftist leader who promised to put its nearly 50 million poor first.

God forbid anyone threaten to put 50 million poor ahead of big business and big government. Let's hope Calderon remembers his razor-thin margin of victory. And wishing him success in doing more to "improve the daily lives" of Mexican citizens that his predecessor, Vicente Fox.

WaPo also has coverage.

Calderon was quoted as saying, "I want to establish a very constructive relationship without bowing my head and lowering my eyes to the Americans," Calderon said in heavily accented English during an interview with The Associated Press.

"I have met with President Bush several times. I have interviewed with President Bush and several members of the American Congress, and I know it's possible to establish a more constructive relationship, and that would be very good for both countries."

From Crooks & Liars:

Too bad Bush doesn't remember these meetings. Who is lying?

Friday Pussy Blog: Gus

Today's pussy blog comes to you courtesy of my friend Rebecca in Dallas, a frequent commenter on this blog.

Gus (with nemesis "Gadget" on the left)
Full name: Asparagus Tigerfart Bailey
Nick names: Fluffer Nutter, Dog Cat, Gussa Fussa
Age: 11 1/2 years.
Lives used: 3 so far
Born: In a barn somewhere in Nebraska.
Weight: 15.5 lbs. Was 22, but was forced to eat nasty old cat diet food. Complained constantly. Lost the weight, and now doesn't limp anymore.
Personality: Sweet, lover dover, easy going, dog loving Tom cat.
Vocabulary: MOM!, OUT!, NO!

Other interesting facts:
Does several tricks, including jumping over a stick. (extremely food motivated)
Was very integral in helping my daughter have a happier adolescence.

Will only take his glucosamine when heated into my husband's homemade vegetable soup. We make the soup, and freeze into little cubes that we heat up.

Gus is admiring the fish tank.

Thanks Rebecca for sharing your adorable child with us!

aspiring to be a slithering reptile

E.coli bacterium is what I hope I'm not

I made the mistake of registering yesterday with
The Truth Laid Bear and awoke this morning to the horror that I'm only an "insignificant microbe." Damn! I so wanted to at least be a "wiggly worm" on my evolutionary journey to "slithering repitle."

I guess this would be the ideal time for me to thank each and every one of you who have visited and continue to visit my blog which is still covered in afterbirth fluid.

Your visits and comments are always appreciated!

Wacky Letters From the Huckabee State

Oh joy, I ran across not one but TWO brilliantly written letters to the editor of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette today. Only first names are published to protect the ignorant. WARNING: mindless fetid spewage ahead...

Allow me to help you understand why people who worship the liberal agenda are God haters and why they hate George W. Bush.

You see, since the day Bush gave his life to Jesus Christ and was born again, the spirit of Christ came to live inside of him forever and he received eternal life. That’s what the gospel of Jesus Christ teaches, and it happens to be true because the same experience has happened to many people. These born believers make up the church of the true one, the Lord Jesus Christ. I know this is true because it happened to me 26 years ago.

On the other hand, the church of liberalism is full of God haters with an anti-Christ ideology from the roots up and rotten to the core. Since all believers in Jesus Christ have God’s spirit residing in them, so does Bush. The ones who believe the liberal ideology have the spirit of the antichrist residing in them.

Since God is love and Satan is full of hate, it’s easy to see why so many liberals with this religious ideology hate Bush so. I would surmise that our president is well aware of these facts. The Lord Jesus was hated by these same types of people and told his disciples they would be, too.
BOB
Pine Bluff

Now, moving on to some heavier liberal bashing..

I have been reading the nitwit letters from all the ignorant liberals. How can a group be so ignorant while considering themselves so wise?

Liberals talk about all the rights they have lost due to the Patriot Act, but never offer any examples of rights lost. I hope our government will use any means at its disposal to protect us from the killers who hate us, and if the godless liberals don’t like it, tough. We are in a war with evil, vicious killers, and our children’s future is what is at stake.

When I hear liberals griping about our president, I figure he must be doing the right things. I hope the fact that George W. Bush beat the crap out of John Kerry eats at these heathens every minute of every day. The liberal-controlled media claim the Democrats will regain control of Congress in the November elections. I believe they are wrong because of the evil agenda of the Democratic Party. Biblebelieving Christians know evil when they see it and will defeat it again.
NORMAN
Mountain View

Both of these enlightened beings surely are proud owners of the Ann Coulter Plagiaristic Playbook.

Don't Ask, Don't Tell.... the 2nd chapter

The Souther Poverty Law Center is reporting "large numbers of potentially violent neo-Nazis, skinheads and other white supremacists are now learning the art of warfare in the armed forces."

Ten years after a scandal over neo-Nazis in the armed forces, extremists are once again worming their way into a recruit-starved military. The Intelligence Project uncovers how white supremacists are using military training to prepare for their own wars at home.

This story was also reported today in the
New York Times.

"We've got Aryan Nations graffiti in Baghdad," the group quoted a Defense Department investigator as saying in a report. "That's a problem."

The report quotes Scott Barfield, a Defense Department investigator, saying, "Recruiters are knowingly allowing neo-Nazis and white supremacists to join the armed forces, and commanders don't remove them from the military even after we positively identify them as extremists or gang members."

This is another glaring example of our military sacrificing decency for their desperate recruitment needs. Meanwhile, gays and lesbians are still prohibited from serving openly.

If and when this war does end, we as a nation are going to be "shocked and awed" by the level of degradation in the US military. We'll potentially have gangs trained in combat by our own military, most of whom will have additional mental impairments from their experiences in Iraq.

another reason children are better off with straight parents

ATLANTA - A father accused of poisoning his children's soup in a scheme to sue the Campbell Soup Co. was indicted on tampering and fraud charges, authorities said. The children, a 3-year-old boy and his 18-month-old sister, were taken to hospital emergency rooms three times in January.

According to investigators, their father fed them tainted soup each time. On the third occasion, authorities said, he used the prescription drugs Prozac and Amitriptyline — both used to treat depression — making his young daughter so ill she was flow by helicopter to an Atlanta hospital.

William Allen Cunningham, 40, was charged with tampering with consumer products with reckless disregard for the risk that another person would be placed in danger of death or serious bodily injury. He also was charged with mail fraud, wire fraud and communicating false statements that a consumer product had been tampered with.

Mouse in soup a hoax

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. - A woman who tried to extort money from the Cracker Barrel restaurant chain by putting a dead mouse in a bowl of soup was sentenced to a year in jail.
Carla Patterson, 38, and her 22-year-old son, Ricky Patterson, sought $500,000 from the chain after claiming they found the rodent in the vegetable soup the woman ordered at a Newport News restaurant on Mother's Day weekend in 2004.

It couldn't happen to a
nicer restaurant chain!

No wiccan symbol for soldier killed in combat

You got a problem with it?

Fallen Soldier Gets a Bronze Star but No Pagan Star

Many thanks to
Shakespeare’s Sister for pouncing on this one.

The US Department of Veterans Affairs refused to allow a symbol of the Wicca religion to be inscribed on U.S. military memorials or grave markers.

Mexican Election Chaos

I've been following the Mexican presidential election which is reminiscent of the 2000 and 2004 US (s)elections and it's making me dizzy. Conservative candidate Felipe Calderon was leading by a thin margin after initial counts, but amid several irregularities, my candidate of choice, former mayor of Mexico City Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador demanded a recount.

I was thrilled to see results shift yetserday in favor of Obrador. However, Calderon is now back in the lead and it appears we're going to have another Bush ally at the helm of our southern neighbor. Nevertheless, Obrador pledges to challenge the results in court. We shall see. But I've learned from experience not to put too much faith in the outcome.


More here

UPDATE:
RAW STORY has more on election ballots found in garbage dumps.

Court Says No to NY Gay Marriages

Damn! This is NOT how I wanted to start my day. Now we get to sit back and hear more self-righteous fundie tongue flapping. Joy.

ALBANY, N.Y. - New York's highest court ruled Thursday that gay marriage is not allowed under state law.

The Court of Appeals, in a 4-2 decision, rejected arguments from gay and lesbian plaintiffs that their inability to get marriage licenses in New York violated their constitutional rights.

"It's a sad day for New York families," said plaintiff Kathy Burke of Schenectady, who is raising an 11-year-old son with her partner, Tonja Alvis. "My family deserves the same protections as my next door neighbors."

Judge Robert Smith said New York's marriage law is constitutional and clearly limits marriage to between a man and a woman.

Any change in the law should come from the state Legislature, he said.
"We do not predict what people will think generations from now, but we believe the present generation should have a chance to decide the issue through its elected representatives," Smith wrote.

Gov. George Pataki's health department and state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer's office have argued New York law prohibits issuing licenses to same-sex couples.

The four cases decided Thursday were filed two years ago after Massachusetts' high court ruled gay marriage should be allowed in that state. With little hope of getting a gay marriage law in New York, advocates from the ACLU, Lambda Legal and other advocacy groups marshaled forces for a court fight.

Forty-four couples acted as plaintiffs in the suits, including the brother of comedian Rosie O'Donnell and his longtime partner.

I want my Godpod...

Good God. What will Christians think of next?

(don't ask)


From:
CBS in Dallas:

It's a way of life: iPods, blogs, podcasts, the Web. In the world of religion, surfing the Web has taken on a whole new language. The big buzzword lately is Godpodding and millions of people are doing it.

Mark Yarbrough, Executive Director of Communications and Information Technology at Dallas Theological Seminary says people should shop around. "It's ‘pick your flavor.’ MyGodPod.com is a site that provides Christian content and there are a whole host of organizations that do that. The largest evangelical Christian holding tank is OnePlace.com.” And it's free, and there are a whole host of others to choose from.

I'm a little concerned about that large "evangelical Christian holding tank" -- I might need to avoid that. Does it require submersion?

Go "pick your flavor" at MyGodPod.com. Knock yourselves out! Make mine a "konagodpod."

[hat tip: Rebecca]

and they probably weren't even gay!

2 Somalis killed for watching
World Cup.

And Instant Karma is great when it happens. Why doesn't it happen more often? Think of the savings to the taxpayers and the pressure that could be lifted from our overburdened judicial system.

What's the frequency Kenneth?

China bans South Korean film

Chinese officials have banned a South Korean film "The King and the Clown" because the movie implies a homosexual theme.

Directed by JUN-IK LEE, The King And The Clown has taken a huge $85 million from 12 million cinema admissions. But because homosexuality is still highly controversial in China, where being gay is considered a mental defect, the film has been forbidden from theatres.

It's amazing how much our American fundamentalist movement is so similar in ideals to totalitarian regimes.

Back to work.... off and running...

Stories like this make such a compelling case for the sacred institution of marriage to be limited to one man and one woman:

GUSTINE, Calif. - A man who was seen arguing with his wife Tuesday later killed his four young children in their home with a hunting rifle before turning the gun on himself, officials said.

And a budget-crisis in NJ forces casinos to shut down. Ouch. That's gotta hurt the coffers!

ATLANTIC CITY, New Jersey (Reuters) - Gamblers in Atlantic City, an East Coast cousin of the more glitzy Las Vegas, were ordered to leave the tables and slot machines on Wednesday because of a budget crisis in the state legislature.

KOLKATA, India (Reuters) - Hundreds of people are thronging a hospital in the eastern Indian city of Kolkata to see a patient holding a piece of his own skull that fell off.

I swear I'm not making this shit up!

It's OK

FRAGILE: Handle with care......

Happy 4th

The Floral Flag is 740 feet long and 390 feet wide and maintains the proper Flag dimensions. This Flag is 6.65 acres and is the first Floral Flag to be planted with 5 pointed Stars, comprised of White Larkspur. Each Star is 24 feet in diameter; each Stripe is 30 feet wide. This Flag is estimated to contain more than 400,000 Larkspur plants.

I hope all Americans will take some time today to pause and reflect on the precarious state of our nation and our world. It's not a pleasant thing to do and of course the vast majority won't give it a thought. We'll be preoccupied with selfish entertainment, cookouts, sports, shooting off (Chinese-made) fireworks and wallowing in pride.

For the rest of the world not celebrating our holiday, it's business as usual:

JERUSALEM - Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Tuesday ignored a deadline to begin releasing Palestinian prisoners and instead issued a veiled threat against Syria, vowing to strike "those who sponsor" the militants in the Gaza Strip who seized a young Israeli soldier.

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraq's justice minister demanded Tuesday that the U.N. Security Council ensure that a group of U.S. troops are punished in the alleged rape and murder of a young Iraqi and the killing of her family, calling the attack "monstrous and inhuman."
Two female legislators also called for Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to be summoned to parliament to give assurances the U.S. soldiers would be punished for the March 12 attack on the family in Mahmoudiya, south of Baghdad.

Meanwhile, gunmen in camouflage uniforms kidnapped Deputy Electricity Minister Raed al-Hares, along with 11 of his bodyguards in eastern Baghdad, security officials said.

KABUL, Afghanistan - A bomb exploded Tuesday in downtown Kabul, wounding at least 10 people, and five Afghan laborers were ambushed and fatally shot on their way to a U.S. military base in eastern Afghanistan police and officials said.

LONDON (AFP) - People in Britain view the United States as a vulgar, crime-ridden society obsessed with money and led by an incompetent president whose Iraq policy is failing, according to a newspaper poll.

The United States is no longer a symbol of hope to Britain and the British no longer have confidence in their transatlantic cousins to lead global affairs, according to the poll published in The Daily Telegraph.

The YouGov poll found that 77 percent of respondents disagreed with the statement that the US is "a beacon of hope for the world".

As Americans prepared to celebrate the 230th anniversary of their independence on Tuesday, the poll found that only 12 percent of Britons trust them to act wisely on the global stage. This is half the number who had faith in the Vietnam-scarred White House of 1975.

A massive 83 percent of those questioned said that the United States doesn't care what the rest of the world thinks.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - About 150 protesters sat in front of the White House on Monday to savor their last meal before starting a hunger strike that some said will continue until American troops return from Iraq. The demonstration marking the Independence Day holiday was organized by CodePink, a women's anti-war group that called on volunteers to abstain from eating for 24 hours from midnight on Monday.
Some protesters said their fast would continue beyond July 4th.

Beavis & Butthead

Now that an
uproar has erupted over the
“Sodomy Squadron” comment one post down, I think it's time for a little dedication to Mr. Hood of The Conservative Voice.

No tolerance for intolerance

Monday has never been one of my favorite days on the week unless I'm expecting a large check in the mail. This Monday, the 3rd day of a 4-day weekend for me should be pleasant enough, but I'm encountering a bit too much fundamentalist BS this morning.

There's an excellent post by Amanda at
Pandagon today with a link to this crock of smelly feces at
The Conservative Voice written by Rob Hood. Here are just a few of his batshit commets. Read the entire piece, if you can stomach it.

The NEA is just another very liberal organization that strives to indoctrinate abnormal matters into the minds of our kids at an early age in a pathetic attempt to create a world in which everyone is "tolerant" and liberal. Instead of focusing on the real problems of education, aggressive liberal groups seek to ban God from schools and replace Him with anti-God junk science and adulterous, sinful, sexual propaganda. Sex education and condom education does not belong anywhere near the schoolhouse. Churches in Sunday School already teach this to kids. it's called abstinence - AND IT WORKS!

Why can't these people just send their kids to some private church/school and stop raping our educational system? And show me some actual statistics on the success of abstinence-only education....
PLEASE!

Here's another of his suggestions:

The best things that can be done at this point is for all conservative public school teachers to get up and leave the classrooms. Simply quit and walk out the door and stop supporting anti-normal liberal teachers unions and the NEA altogether.

There is a war going on and it's not just Iraq, Afghanistan, and drugs. These nutjobs clearly would be happy to replace our constitution with their holy bible and they must be stopped.

Already in a rebellious tizzy from the tyrannical insane rantings of the right, I popped in over at
Agape Press and found this jewel by Joe Murray posted today.

Among other nonsense, he opines:

[George] Washington's America is no longer the America of today. The Judeo-Christian compass that once guided our leaders and citizens has been displaced. A new moral order, one fueled by hedonism and a mutated form of individualism, has taken its place. Translation: Christians have become strangers in their own country.

What is the state of our Union's culture? Poor. In regards to Christian values, Jesus has not just been moved to the back of the bus, he has been thrown out the emergency exit door. Not only has talk of Jesus, and His Church, been evicted from public discourse, but Jesus has become a favorite target of a cultural elite who have grown intolerant of His nagging presence.

If one digs deeper into the cultural psyche of America, he will find that Christianity no longer sets the standard for proper human behavior. The Sodomy Squadron has been flying high, for the Supreme Court has deemed sodomy a fundamental right, the Federal Marriage Amendment was DOA, and Massachusetts strong-armed the Catholic Church into ceasing its adoption program when it demanded that a Catholic agency allow same-sex couples to adopt children under the care of the Roman Catholic Church.

Oh damn, konagod is getting mightily pissed off right about now. Christianity can set the standard for proper human CHRISTIAN behavior, or any other non-Christians who want to use it as a standard. I am so weary of these bible thumpers who believe they have the only key to morality.

Let me leave you with one final gem from Rob Hood at the Conservative Voice:

Believe it or not many commercials have very liberal overtones and hidden messages that one would not pick up on unless one was actually trained at doing so or used to seeing. I recently saw a commercial where two men were grilling steaks outside on a patio. This commercial seemed innocent enough, but when I saw it the second time around, I noticed the two men were closer than normal and all throughout the commercial there were kids there, but no women. Get the point?

The question, Mr. Hood, should be, "do YOU get the point?"

Feeling a little sticky and moist?

In the news today....

SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea will respond to a pre-emptive U.S. military attack with an "annihilating strike and a nuclear war," the state-run media said Monday, heightening its antagonistic rhetoric.

MEXICO CITY - Two bitter rivals declared themselves winners of Mexico's extraordinarily close presidential race, even though official results wouldn't be ready for days, sparking cries of fraud from supporters and fears of violence.

The two candidates were separated by fewer than 401,000 votes, with more than 36 million counted in a preliminary tally by electoral officials. The conservative, Felipe Calderon had 36.6 percent to leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's 35.5 percent, according to results from 91.4 percent of polling places.

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Bombs struck markets north and south of Baghdad on Monday, with nationwide attacks killing at least 10 people and wounding dozens, and parliament convened despite a boycott by Sunni Arab legislators protesting a colleague's abduction.

KABUL, Afghanistan — An insurgent attack on a British base killed two soldiers and an Afghan interpreter, military officials said Sunday, while at least 20 militants died during clashes and coalition airstrikes. A U.S. helicopter crashed in an accident in southern Afghanistan, killing one crew member, the U.S. military said.

Welcome to a new week....

Sunday Hyperventilation

Good Lord God Almighty, I'm gettin' spiritual on a Sunday. Don't tell me Cristiano Ronaldo really likes having that woman's hand sliding south.

I haven't followed the World Cup very much at all, not being a sports fanatic per se. I do make exceptions such as the summer Olympics, particularly the men's swimming competition. But it's not all pleasures of the flesh that attract me. I am just as enthusiastic about winter Olympics. My PC desktop background is a photo of curling stones, not half naked men.

But I gotta tell ya, from what I've seen of the World Cup on various blogs, including some gay ones, I could be a fan I think.

Is it just me or is that chick WAAAYY too leggy? Cristiano better be careful; she could snap his head off with that pair of scissors.

Gay rights facing more global challenges

We obviously have a lot of problem areas in most of our own 50 states, but some of these are absurd! I think our right-wing fringe fundamentalists are taking their cues from some of this bunch:

While cities around the world hosted upbeat gay pride parades in recent weeks, human-rights activists kept watch on a contrasting set of developments: gays beaten by demonstrators in Moscow, convicted on sodomy charges in Cameroon, targeted by sweeping anti-gay legislation in Nigeria.

Regions of concern include Africa, where many politicians engage in anti-gay rhetoric; Islamic countries where gay sex is illegal and sometimes punishable by death; and certain Eastern European countries where gay pride marches have been banned or targeted by harassment and violence.

Among the recent incidents:

• In Moscow, gay activists were pummeled by right-wing protesters and detained by police on May 27 when they tried to gather after the city banned a gay pride parade. Mayor Yuri Luzhkov says he will ban such parades as long as he holds office.

• In Cameroon, where gay sex is punishable by up to five years in prison, seven men were jailed more than a year before being convicted three weeks ago on sodomy charges. Human rights groups say the men were abused in prison and convicted despite lack of evidence.

• Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo has proposed a bill that would criminalize same-sex relationships — imposing prison terms for not only for gays or lesbians who have sex, but also for organizers of gay rights groups and participants in same-sex marriage ceremonies.

• Rep. Barney Frank and five other members of Congress also protested the convictions and imprisonment of 11 men arrested in November at what police in the United Arab Emirates called a mass gay wedding. Initially, authorities said the men would be tested for male hormone levels and might face hormone injections, though these procedures did not occur.

• In Jamaica, which outlaws gay sex, gays are frequent targets of attacks and harassment. The Caribbean island's best-known gay activist was murdered in 2004 by an assailant wielding an ice pick; a gay man who counseled people with AIDS was shot dead last year.

• Iran is a constant concern to activists because of recurring reports of men being executed for gay sex. A pending Human Rights Watch investigation has verified that such executions occur, Long said, though it is difficult to gauge how frequently.


Full story here.

Eddie Izzard on Big Tits

More on boobs... does anyone detect some kind of trend here?

Arkansas politics taking gay-unfriendly right turn

With the Arkansas Supreme Court striking down the ban on gays from being foster parents, local politicians are in a tizzy to see who can best wear the mantle of bigotry.

Mike Beebe, who is the Democratic nominee for governor, is opposed to allowing gays be foster parents, said Zac Wright, a spokesman for Beebe’s campaign. “I don’t think, given today’s society and the controversy, it would be in the best interest of the child to be” placed in a home with a gay foster parent, Beebe said, according to a message sent and explained by Wright. Yeah, thanks for your contribution to the controvery!

Republican gubernatorial candidate Asa Hutchinson of Little Rock, a former congressman who served as undersecretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, said he wants a law prohibiting gays from being foster parents. He said he didn’t know exactly what that law should say, only that he believes foster parenting should be restricted to married couples. “That should be what we should be striving for, and I don’t think two people, even heterosexuals, living together without the benefit of marriage, are ideal foster parents,” Hutchinson said Friday.

Republican lieutenant governor candidate Jim Holt, a state senator from Springdale, said he was “pretty upset” by the ruling and plans to push for legislation to bar gays from being foster parents. Holt said it’s “rather odd to me” that threefourths of Arkansans voted for a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage in 2004, “but now we are going to put a child in that environment, who has no say whatsoever.” “Once again, the Supreme Court has run over the will of the people,” he said.

Attorney general candidate Gunner DeLay, an attorney from Fort Smith, said Thursday that he was “extremely disappointed” by the decision and disagreed with the court’s findings that no connection exists between the sexual orientation of foster parents and the wellbeing of a child. “The fact is that a child has the best chance for proper development with the presence of a mother and father in the home,” said DeLay, a Republican. “There is no substitute for what God and nature intended.

Pity the progressive voters in Arkansas who apparently have very little to hope for in the upcoming elections. Huckabee is going out; what's coming in will be no different.
You can see him blathering the same friggin’ nonsense at Pam’s House Blend.