Support the Troops?

“Rushed by President Bush’s decision to reinforce Baghdad with thousands more U.S. troops, two Army combat brigades are skipping their usual session at the Army's premier training range in California and instead are making final preparations at their home bases.

Some in Congress and others outside the Army are beginning to question the switch, which is not widely known. They wonder whether it means the Army is cutting corners in preparing soldiers for combat, since they are forgoing training in a desert setting that was designed specially to prepare them for the challenges of Iraq”

(You can read more of this article here)

We have this “desert setting that was designed specially to prepare them for the challenges of Iraq”, and the they aren’t using it now due to the rush to get these soldiers into the war. To hell with preparation for the conditions they will face, just ship them over there and wish them good luck. Are you outraged yet?

Hostages?

It seems to me that this war and this administration are holding our soldiers hostage in Iraq. We are told by the Republicans that if Congress doesn’t continue funding this war the soldiers will suffer. But we know that if Congress continues funding the war more of them will be injured and killed.

We know that because so many soldiers are returning home with such serious injuries that the military hospitals aren’t prepared to meet all of their needs.

So how does this war ever end? How long must we watch men and women being injured and killed in battle? How long must we hear of hundreds of innocent Iraqis being murdered every week?

We sent a clear message with our votes, and we said we wanted this war to be over. What happened? Instead of bringing our troops home, they are sending more into battle and the tours of duty are more frequent.

How much longer will this administration be allowed to hold our soldiers hostage in a war in which it has proven for four years it has no idea how to win?

Again?

Last night vice president Al Gore won an Oscar in the category of best documentary for his film, “An Inconvenient Truth”. It is rumored that today the Supreme Court will rule that the Oscar will instead be awarded to George Bush.

Yes, I’m just teasing. Congratulations to Al Gore and to the wisdom of the motion picture industry. In many ways we all won something.

Friday with Fred the Cat

This week really has been a fiasco for me. I guess every cat has his bad days now and again. I had one of those days this week.

You all know about the little pillow full of Comic catnip that I got for Christmas, right? Okay, you probably also know that I love that stuff so much. I’m telling you it makes me feel so good.

Recently we had a couple of cold days, even for sunny Florida. On cold days I feel naturally spunky. I get all frisky and do silly things like running laps around and around the patio at warp speed. You know, just feeling my feline spirit.

Well, on this one particular cold morning, with my spunkiness in top form, I decided to add in some time with the Cosmic catnip pillow. I was rubbing my face on it and chewing on it and then for some fool reason I picked it up with my front paws and slung it into the air. As I watched in something like slow motion my little pillow of Cosmic catnip sailed into the air and then it veered a little and came to rest right in the middle of the swimming pool. Oh no, I cried in cat speak. I can’t reach it and it is soaking up pool water. Sadly, her highness was in the house and didn’t hear me. I sat there beside the pool and watched helplessly as my little pillow drowned in chemically treated water. I wasn’t feeling so damned frisky now and the catnip buzz was all gone. Funny how something dramatic can totally erase a good catnip feeling.

Later that day her highness saw the little pillow floating around in the pool and retrieved it with the pool net. I saw what she was doing and ran to see what condition my favorite toy might be in at this time. Her highness petted me and told me that it was ruined and would have to be tossed in the trash. Both she and I had a moment for me and for my Cosmic catnip pillow.

Today is Friday, and I have been promised a new Cosmic catnip pillow tomorrow. That’s fine but I wish it could be sooner. I have a brand new bag of cat treats and everyone knows treats are so much better with an appetizer of Cosmic catnip.

Have a great weekend and here’s to keeping our paws crossed that I get my new little pillow real soon. I’m going to be much more responsible from now on. At least that’s what the Pops want to think. We’ll see how that works out.

Good Question, Ms Pelosi

“Why are thousands of additional American troops being sent to Iraq at the same time that British troops are planning to leave?” Pelosi asked.

Thank you for asking, Ms Pelosi. A lot of us are asking the same question. Who will provide the answer?

The old lawyer shooter, on the other hand, seems to think that the British pullout of their troops means things are going great. How many pairs of rose colored glasses does this guy own. Is there anything he can’t spin?

Hello, Dick? Nobody with a brain believes the things you say so please stop insulting us with your favorite flavor of bull excrement. The British aren’t leaving because everything is going great. They are leaving because your buddy, Tony, finally saw the writing on the wall. Now seriously, answer Ms Pelosi’s question.

(quote from Raw Story)

National Disgrace

By now just about all of you have either heard about or read the articles that Dana Priest and Ann Hull of the Washington Post have been writing about the awful situation at the lesser known parts of Walter Reed Hospital. If they both don’t get loaded down with journalism awards for this reporting, no one should. These two reporters are legally entitled to say, “We support the troops”, because they sure as hell do.

What a national disgrace they have brought to our attention. How in the hell was this allowed to happen right here in the United States? The story sounds like something we would discover in some third world country prison or something. Our injured military living with mice and roaches and mold. Our military being lost in a mountain of red tape and paper work. Our military being treated with a lack of compassion or concern.

Imagine a mother who is worried about her son or daughter being killed in either of the wars and now finding out what they will come home to if they are injured. I have no way of knowing how awful that might be, but I know it shouldn’t be that way.

For a lot of families they are fighting their own war when it comes to getting the necessary medical and financial help for their injured loved ones. And yes, in this war just like the rest, people die as a result.

It never should have come to this, but with sincere gratitude to Ms Hull and Ms Priest for exposing this disgrace, hopefully some vital and lifesaving changes will be made. They better be, and the person who wants my vote in 2008 better speak out loud and often about this subject until it has been eliminated as a national disgrace.

***
On another note, CNN reported late yesterday that Tony Blair will announce a timetable to bring British forces out of Iraq. 1,500 will be returning home in several weeks. Did bush know about this when he planned his surge? I guess the Blair and bush honeymoon is now officially over.

Dear Paris Hilton

Ms Hilton I am begging you to do something outrageous. It took Britney, in a state of well, I don’t know what mental state she was in when she shaved her head and tattooed her bod, to get dead Anna Nicole off the continuous headline news. Now we are being smothered with 24/7 bald Britney news. If you, Ms Hilton, would do something equally outrageous, I believe you could de-Britney the news. By doing this you would also be doing your country a great service as you would be helping to keep the real news that effects all Americans out of the headlines of “breaking news”.

You know, that war in Iraq and the other one in Afghanistan? Yeah, you might have heard about them. They are the ones where people are being killed by the dozens every day. We here in America would rather read and hear about crazy women doing wacky things than face reality. Even dead wacky women, who none of us ever even cared about, get more attention today than our soldiers do. We all support the troops, but man we love news about freaky women. Yeah, even the one who wore a diaper in pursuit of her love jones.

I would be asking one or both of the Bush twins to perform this favor, but I have no idea where they are these days. So, Ms Hilton, if you could work something really bizarre and weird into your busy schedule, we surely would appreciate your effort. God forbid we should actually be forced to face reality. Reality is so ugly and such a bummer. It’s such a downer too. We need you to step up now and help us prolong the surge of real news that we fear might be coming our way. America is much more interested in what people like you are up to than they are about downer, bummer, stuff like war and such. Ms Hilton, can we count on you?

Tuned Out

Since Mr. Pop sort of commandeered the computer this weekend in order to catch up on some work, I was by circumstances forced to tune out as far as news goes. Did I miss anything? Please bring me up to date on what’s happening.

Friday with Fred the Cat

I may be just a cat, but I’m listening to what’s going on. Some ask if Barak Obama is black enough. Some might ask if he’s white enough. Take a look at me folks. Look at my colors. Am I black enough? Am I white enough? See, how foolish those two questions sound?

Speaking as a black and white cat, I must say that whether I’m a good cat or a bad cat has nothing to do with my colors. It’s what’s inside my head and my heart that makes me who I am. It’s my experiences and the life I have led up to this point that give me the thoughts that I have. It’s the way I have been treated and the emotions I have experienced that shape who I am. I’m not too black and I’m not too white, I’m black and white.

Sometimes some of you human beings worry me with the way you break things down. Not everyone or every thing can be broken down into black or white. Some of us are black and some of us are white and some of us are black and white. But as they say, it’s all good.

Have a great weekend and don’t overdo it with the Cosmic catnip.

Support for the troops but not the mission

During the debate on the House floor Tuesday, regarding support for bush’s decision to send more troops to Iraq, one Republican Representative said that you can’t support the troops if you don’t support their mission.

I beg to differ with his statement. Our troops didn’t create this mission or this war. The commander in chief declared this war and then sent our troops to fight and die for the causes he stated. Yes, I can support the troops without supporting their mission, because they had no say in what their mission would be. They trusted our president and our country to send them into war only as a last resort and only when it was necessary to defend their country.

I support the troops. I do not support the person who declared their mission or the reasons he gave for such a declaration.

So, to the gentleman who stated last Tuesday that I could not do this, I say, yes I can.

On a different subject and on a somewhat lighter note….
To the Republicans who say that if we bring our soldiers home from Iraq, the terrorists will follow us home. I say, no they won’t. If our soldiers are on their way home and they turn around and see a terrorist following them, they’ll shoot that rascal.

Happy Valentine’s Day, To You, My Honeys!

This orchid is living on my patio even as you read this and I think it’s beautiful. Home grown beauty indeed.

Sure, I love the flowers and candy and cards that come with Valentine’s day. I’m a sucker for such things. I still have the Valentine card my grandmother gave me when I was a very little girl. This love of Valentines day has been with me for a long time.

Having said all that, do you know what the best part about today might be? It means the end of the all too frequently repeated commercials for pajama grams and Vermont Teddy Bears, at least for this season. I sure won’t miss them one bit.

Is he really that uninformed?

C-Span scored a sit-down interview yesterday with george bush. I saw this segment of the tape yester day on C-Span. It appeared to me that bush thought Goldwater Republicans were people who still wanted Goldwater elected today. Could he be that uninformed? You decide. As for where he goes after he’s asked, “And can you define the ideology of a Bush Republican?” I have no idea. Here’s part of the transcript of that interview that I found over at Raw Story. The “Q” is the questioner’s question.

Q: Within the Republican Party, there is the Goldwater Republicans --

PRESIDENT BUSH: Still? (Chuckles.)

Q: … and there's the Rockefeller Republicans and Reagan Republicans.

PRESIDENT BUSH: I'm -- go ahead.

Q: Oh, no, go ahead.

PRESIDENT BUSH: Well, I'm just chuckling. I don't -- I -- I think the Goldwater Republicans and the Rockefeller Republicans are pretty far past.

Q: But I'm talking about ideology. You have Reagan Republicans today. Are there -- will there be Bush Republicans? And can you define the ideology of a Bush Republican?

PRESIDENT BUSH: Compassionate conservatism, you know, the -- the use of government to help people in the private sector advance compassionate goals, like the faith-based initiative.

I -- you know, I -- I chuckled -- I didn't mean to -- I shouldn't have -- that's rude of me, to chuckle in the midst of your question. But I would be cautious about stereotyping mentalities in a constantly changing political dynamic.

And I think people like to label themselves certain things, but political parties grow, and they -- you know, immigration is a classic issue where, you know, I made a name for being compassionate and at the same time understanding the need to enforce our borders on immigration. And I don't think you can label that really any kind of political philosophy or any -- named after any former political candidate. It's just like dealing with a problem in the context of a -- what I call right-of-center or conservative philosophy.

Barak Obama’s Speech

I watched and listened Saturday as Barak Obama announced his candidacy for president of the United States.

There were so many great ideas and attitudes in his speech but the one that grabbed my attention and stuck with me was this one. “It was here, in Springfield, where North, South, East and West come together that I was reminded of the essential decency of the American people — where I came to believe that through this decency, we can build a more hopeful America.”

When was the last time you heard anyone talking about decency? It’s so nice to hear someone speak of decency in America. We are decent people and acting that way is long overdue.

Fred the Cat here and I have a Secret!

Wanna know my secret? Here’s a hint. Pretend this isn’t a Santa hat, but a party hat. Also pretend I’m wearing this party hat. (No way in hell I would actually wear one of those things. It was difficult enough to get an ex street cat like myself to wear a collar.)

Any guesses why I would be wearing a virtual party hat?

Okay, here’s the story. One year ago today Pop went to her computer, clicked on “Get your own blog” and thus the beginning of Morning Martini.

I remember that morning well because although she had written for several other blogs in the past, she had never actually gone through the mechanics of posting the writing herself. She was so very nervous. I remember she told Murphy and me to leave her alone as she had all she could deal with just figuring out how to begin a blog and how to post to it.

So I, along with a little help from her, am happily and proudly announcing that today Morning Martini is one year old in human years (that’s seven years old in dog years). Since Pop calls the shots around here (or thinks she does) we’ll celebrate this in human years. Today, Morning Martini is celebrating its first year on the “internets” and coming through the wires and tubes to you.

Today we are one. She and I want to thank every single person, dog and cat who have visited Morning Martini during its first year. If you have left comments or even if you haven’t, we thank you and appreciate your friendship and support more than we can ever express to you. Some of you are old friends and others are brand new. This THANK YOU is heartfelt and deeply sincere to one and all.

Now put on your own party hat and let’s celebrate all weekend long! Cosmic catnip for everyone! Weeeeee!

Whew! The dread is over

From the first day I heard about “new blogger” I have been in a cold sweat dreading the day I would be forced to move. I read the horror tales about what other bloggers were going through when they switched over. I shuttered and I shook. Oh no, please don’t let this happen to me.

I feared losing my little martinis at the top of the page. I feared everything happening to me that had happened to others. And if it did, I would be clueless about what to do to fix any problems that might arise.

Earlier this week I read at the blogger help group that everyone would be forced to change in the coming couple of weeks. That made my knees weak.

Yesterday morning when I went in to post I was faced with a message that informed me Morning Martini had to change over now. Oh boy, it was time to face the dreaded music. I clicked on the designated buttons and followed along with what I was told to do. I created the Google account and clicked with shaky hands. In less than five minutes it was done. I received an email from blogger telling me to click on the linked site to activate my account. I did it and so far, so good.

Seems in my life the things I have dreaded the most turned out to be the easiest. Wonder why its worked that way?

So, to those of you who haven’t switched over yet, now you’ve heard a story about switching and it wasn’t a nightmare and it was told by a person who is pitifully clueless when it comes to most things in computer world. Hopefully your own changing to new blogger will be as seamless as mine was.

Congressional Democrats have been spotted

Look! I found most of the Congressional Democrats. They are all perched in these pine trees beside my house. They are the majority as there are no other bird brains sitting up there with them. What’s it gonna take to get them off their asses, off their perches and down to the business of doing what we told them to do in November? So far all I see are a lot of bird droppings below them.

Some of Democrats who want to be president are saying that had they known then what they know now about Iraq, they would never have given bush a thumbs up for the war. Think about that a minute. We knew then what they know now, why didn’t they?

Our Sanity Preservation Day

I tell ya, with all that’s going on in our country and in our world, we Americans will take any excuse to party and celebrate and try for a day or two to escape reality. As a human being, I see nothing in the world wrong with that. I think it’s called sanity preservation.

Just look at this past Super Bowl Sunday. Even people who could care less about football attended parties and had fun. Why not? We are desperate for something to celebrate even if it’s just a sporting event.

Sunday was the dreariest of days here. It was a bit chilly and damp and dark. Heavy dark clouds hung over us all day. If you felt blue when this day began there was no where to go but down hill the rest of the day.

Fortunately no one in our household had the blues. We had planned to attend an outside art show but the weather changed our plans. Instead Mr. Pop spent the better part of the morning here at the computer working and I, like an idiot, watched the Sunday morning shows like Meet the Press, etc.

We had planned a Super Bowl dinner of Southern fried chicken and potato salad with carrot cake for dessert. The plan was to eat and drink and watch football. I gotta tell you, I can fry damned good chicken and my potato salad kicks some butt too. The carrot cake I leave to the professional bakers at our local market.

The afternoon was dragging by. It was too early to begin cooking. I made the potato salad Saturday so it would have plenty of time to chill over night. So while we were in this pre-cooking zone what was there to do? I flipped the TV channels around and happened upon the Puppy Bowl. If you didn’t see it, you missed some of the cutest puppies playing on a pretend enclosed little football field. They were romping and playing and having a grand time. Whenever one of the puppies peed or pooped on the field, a human dressed as a referee would blow the whistle and announce a personal foul on the puppy responsible. Then he would go into the enclosure and clean up the problem. Talk about mindless TV, but those sweet little puppies sure were fun and the time sure did fly by.

So yes, we did take a timeout for a little while Sunday and we had fun. We ate like southern pigs, we drank like football fans must and we enjoyed the hell out of ourselves. Sometimes politics, war and all things ugly must be given a timeout. Sometimes sanity needs a wee bit of preservation. That’s what we did and that’s why we did it.

If you might be wondering, there were no hangovers here on Tuesday morning, but there was some great cold fried chicken in the frig. Life can be good if you allow it!

Anxiety and Tornados

We awoke last Friday morning to the awful and frightening news of what had transpired north of us due to the tornados. On the weather radar there was a ugly red line of storms and they were headed our way.

Since the hurricanes literally blew through our home a couple of years ago, I have had a little problem with weather anxiety. Any strong storm will get my heart fluttering, the perspiration going and my hands all shaky. This has ebbed a lot as the months rolled by, but it came back with a vengeance Friday after Mr. Pop left for work.

The line of storms moved slowly toward us. Mentally I felt as though I was freaking out as I watched the coverage of the damage in central Florida. As the storms got closer and closer I got more and more afraid. It got to the point that I began to cry. Not a good sign.. I called Mr. Pop and asked him if he might come home for an hour or so until the scary stuff passed. He said sure and within a half hour he was here. Whew!

He did some work here at the computer and I started to relax. Just knowing he was here with me was better than the finest medicine for what was ailing me. The storm lines seemed to be dying out now as they came within miles of us. A little after noon I told him that I thought I could handle things if he wanted to go back to the lab. The weather didn’t look as ominous as it had earlier on the weather channel.

He packed up his stuff, kissed me, told me he loved me and out the door he went. He stopped before he got to his truck, turned around and told me to call him if I needed him. I thanked him and went inside and closed the door. I walked into the kitchen and heard on the TV that our county was under a “Tornado Warning”. I just stared at the TV for a second. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I called Mr. Pop on his cell and told him what I had heard. He asked me if I wanted him to turn around and come back home. I hesitated for a tiny second and said, “No, I’m gonna handle this.” As it turned out the storm cell that might have produced the tornado didn’t materialize into anything more than a heavy storm and it missed us completely.

I’m kind of proud of myself for not calling him back home. Maybe I can overcome this reasonable or unreasonable fear of storms after all.

Our attention now turns to people we know in the Daytona area. So far they all seem to be okay and that’s fantastic news. My heart absolutely breaks for those who weren’t so fortunate. Mother Nature showed us Friday that she isn’t particular when she wants to show her wrath.

If it’s Friday, it’s Fred the Cat

Hi guys, Fred the Cat here and I gotta talk to you.

I’ve overheard some pretty weird stuff regarding you human beings. What the heck has happened to you? You get weirder by the day, heck, by the minute.

This week I heard that a cartoon show wanted to do some advertising in some cities around the US, so they hid some toys. These toys showed a little light up cartoon creature on them. Okay no big deal, right? Well, for some reason these toys were suspected of being bombs and everyone went crazy. Why? Wouldn’t you think after they found the first one and saw what it was, the scare would be over? Well, a sane cat like me surely would.

You guys appear to be losing your sanity and your common sense. I find it funny and a bit ironic that you guys often use the phrase, “fraidy cats”. If this human insanity and paranoia keeps up, us cats may have to step up and give you guys some bravery lessons. You have become fraidy people.

I also heard that your country is in two wars, neither of which your country is winning. So what do you do? You consider starting a war in a third country. You’re in debt for the two wars, the military says their equipment is shot, and you want to start a brand new war? What are the people who will be fighting this third war gonna use for weapons? You don’t have enough people to fight the two wars you’re already in and yet you even contemplate a third one? Are the people who start these wars insane? Don’t answer that, because even an ex-street cat knows the answer to that one.

It’s times like this that I feel extra proud not to be a member of the highest order called human beings. You guys have the great brains, you have great abilities and yet you make some of the most stupid mistakes in the world.

So here’s your assignment for the week. I give it to you with love and hope. For heavens sake, wise up. We animals depend on you for so much and we care about you. How about trying to reclaim your wisdom, your bravery and your common sense. It’s really important now.

Have a great weekend!

One, if not the most, obnoxious quotes of this week.

“In other words, one of the things that I expect to see is the Iraqis take the lead and show the American people that they're willing to do the hard work necessary to secure their democracy, and our job is to help them.
So my first reaction on this report from the battlefield is that the Iraqis are beginning to show me something.”
NPR

This was bush responding to a question in regard to the battle at Najaf. Of course no one is sure yet just what the hell actually happened there. We are fairly sure that the Iraqis had to call in US air support and we dropped some big mother bombs in the area to stop whatever was happening.

Bush is talking about the Iraqis as if they were his team and he was the coach. His boys are beginning to show him something, some spunk, some game. They may have potential to make a winning team.

What the hell is he? Show him something?

This isn’t for your entertainment, sir. This isn’t for your amusement. Real human beings are dying while you are waiting to be shown something. Watching from afar, as you are, perhaps you haven’t noticed that.