Freday with Fred the Cat

I had to laugh a big cat laugh yesterday when most of the Republicans in the Senate voted against the war funding bill because they didn’t like the other things that were in it. Now they are all on record as voting to stop the money from going to the troops.

As soon as they come to some sort of agreement on the bill they will vote for it. Then they can say they voted against it before they voted for it. I guess they liked the term flip flop.

Gotta give it to the Democrats they built a better mouse trap and caught a whole lot of rats too.

Have a great weekend, friends
Fred the Cat

He would be the one responsible

When the war funding bill arrives at the president’s desk and the president vetoes it, won’t it be the president who will be the person solely responsible for the money being delayed in getting to the troops? Does he really want to be the one responsible for that happening?

Damn Cancer!

End this damned war! Stop spending billions on wars and the like and use that money where it should be used. Put all that money toward medical research and find a cure for cancer. Cancer is a far worse enemy than any group of extremists we will ever face.

Cancer is more cunning, more dangerous and more evil than any other foe. It doesn’t discriminate. It kills innocent men, women and children every day. Where is the outrage about this enemy? While we waste money in the process of killing people in war we are being conquered by this god awful deadly disease right here at home.

When Mr bush asked for prayers yesterday for Tony Snow, I wish he had asked the same for Mrs. Elizabeth Edwards. He should have.

Nice things do happen in the world. Could it ever happen here?

In case you missed this sweet story, I thought I would call it to your attention. This is something that sadly the likes of which we probably won’t see happen in our own country.

“Taiwan is to close one lane of a major highway to protect more than a million butterflies, which cross the road on their seasonal migration.”

And
“Taiwanese officials conceded that the decision to close one lane of the road would cause some traffic congestion, but said it was a price worth paying.
"Human beings need to coexist with the other species, even if they are tiny butterflies," Lee Thay-ming, of the National Freeway Bureau, told the AFP news agency.”

This is such a great story. You can see a picture of the little butterfly and read more about this story here.

Name That Book

Let’s say that when george w. bush is out of office, he decides to write his autobiography. What should be the title of that book?

A Sincere Wish for Good Karma

No cat pictures this week. Fred the Cat and I aren’t doing any snarking or bitching this weekend. Instead we are dedicating this post today and over the weekend to good Karma for Mrs. Elizabeth Edwards. She needs it now and she surely deserves it.

This post is also dedicated to everyone who finds themselves having to deal with this merciless disease.

Have a nice weekend
Fred the Cat and Pop

Screwed up Priorities…..Big Time!

During the past few weeks we saw the cable news channels devote almost an entire day to the live coverage of the Anna Nicole court case. Just about everyday since we have seen updates over and over on this non story. This is like the never ending story that no one but the people involved in it give a good damn about. But the cable news channels have plenty of time to cover it.

Yesterday, the former Vice President of the United States, Al Gore, testified before congress about global warming. Did anyone except C-span3 cover it live as it happened?

The cable news channels have plenty of time to devote to a dead wanna-be starlet, but no time to devote to the live coverage of a major global issue?

No wonder this country is so screwed up!

A not so simple question

When history writes its chapter about this war to “liberate” Iraq, who will it say we were at war against?

You can be a successful professional without being political?

Apparently some, if not all, Republicans don’t believe that.

It seems to me that for Republicans, the Party is everything. Everything they do revolves around the party and the political agenda.

I watched the Valerie Wilson hearing and some of the hearing yesterday about global warming. In both hearings Republican Representatives in the house brought up the subject of witnesses’ political affiliation. They seemed to insinuate that being a Democrat or an Independent would indicate the witness had some sort of political agenda. Are these Republicans so dedicated to their own Party they can’t understand that there are people out here in the world who are successful professionals without carrying a party line?

The Republican Representatives seemed to believe if the witness was Democrat or Independent, they must have a political cause and that it steered and determined their every move. I guess when you yourself live that way, you just automatically assume everyone else does as well.

You Decide

If you put all the inept, inexperienced and incompetent appointees of the bush administration in a wet paper bag, which would be the first to find their way out?

Freday with Fred the Cat

Anyone who knows a cat knows that it doesn’t take much for us find our contentment. Give us a good meal, clean surroundings and a warm place to curl up for a nap and you have a very peacefully contented cat.

Being a cat I find my contentment easily. As a human, where do you go and what do you do, to find your own peace and contentment?

What does that mean Senator Clinton?

“On Monday, the joint chiefs chairman told The Chicago Tribune that "homosexual acts between individuals are immoral. " Yesterday, he released a statement saying the comment reflected his "personal, moral views" but didn't retract it.

Clinton was asked about that yesterday during a segment to be aired on today's "Good Morning America. " She replied, "Well, I am going to leave that to others to conclude. "
-Newsday-

Okay if you’re leaving it to “others to conclude”, I’ll step up. I concluded a long time ago that homosexual activity is not immoral. However, I do believe that having to send injured soldiers back into a war, a war your vote helped initiate, because we just don’t have enough healthy soldiers to fight it is the essence of immoral.

The Mortgage Trap has Sprung

I’m not a financial wizard, not by a long shot, but even a couple of years ago I could see the prospect of a flood of home foreclosures that we now have.

When housing prices escalated so rapidly, so did mortgage availability. All sorts of Mickey Mouse mortgage arrangements sprang up. Just about anyone could get a quick loan and buy a house that was horribly overpriced. Way too many of these people couldn’t really afford the homes they bought, but they bought them anyway thinking the value of the house would continue to rise and they didn’t read the fine print on these easy to grab mortgage papers.

Today it’s all caught up with them and they discover they really can’t afford the mortgage payments on these homes. They also discover that since the bottom has fallen out of the housing boom, they own a home which is worth much less than they owe on it. It’s damned difficult to get out from under mortgage payments by trying to sell a home for more than it’s worth. So what do they do? They do the only thing they can do, they walk away from their home and leave it in their lender’s hands. All those mortgage companies that made it all so easy for prospective buyers to get these homes are left holding the bag and the debt.

I remember at a speech last year or the year before bush bragging about more people in the US owning homes than ever before. Wonder if he’ll address the high rise in foreclosures any time soon?

No one in the government seems to have paid attention to what was brewing with these easy to get mortgages. No one said this is trapping people in something they can’t afford. Why not? Someone should have.

You get your humor where you can

I guess I’m being a little mean here, but I’m having fun watching the Republicans try to find “the candidate”. All kinds of Republicans are coming out of the woodwork. Hagel may run. Rudy is running. McCain is running. Mitt is running. Fred Thompson may run. Newt may run. There are others, but these are the ones who come to mind right now.

In a comical way, watching the Republicans try to find the right candidate is like watching a desperate team playing a game of darts. They are throwing every dart they have at the bull’s eye on the dartboard. They’re even throwing the darts with blunt tips or no tips at all. Even if they know they won’t stick they are flailing those darts as hard as they can hoping against hope that maybe, just maybe, one might stick.

They are looking for someone who loves Jesus, will keep them safe from terrorists and hates abortions and gay rights. They are looking for another george bush-like person but without the george bush-iness.

Who knows who they will finally have to settle for, but it is kind of fun watching them play the game.

***

One other quick thought
We heard all the hype last week about the time change and how it would wreck havoc with computers, but has anyone heard of one single problem that actually resulted from the change. My computer adjusted the change all by itself, much to my delight.

Another must read book

I think I have read just about every book that has been published in the past four years about this war in Iraq. Each of these books has been very enlightening but the one I’m about to tell you about is, in my opinion, a must read.

“Web of Deceit: The History of Western Complicity in Iraq, From Churchill to Kennedy to George W. Bush”, by Barry M. Lando, tells the history of the Middle East and in particular Iraq. While reading this book you discover how the US and other countries have used that area, previous wars and leaders to their own benefit.

If I started to tell you what I have learned from this book I could never stop. I find it amazing and at times appalling to discover what really happened over the years. I never knew just how crooked some previous US administrations have been. Sure, I knew some of this, but not to the depth the book describes.

I’ll stop here but I cannot emphasize enough the amount of information this book contains. Just read it!

*Freday, with Fred the Cat

Cats do not tell lies. People do tell lies. I’m proud, once again, to be a cat.

Have you humans ever had a boss that you were so devoted to that you would lie and go to prison for him, even if there was a pardon promised to you? Neither has her highness or Mr. Pop. I heard them say so. So is that really the case with this guy Libby or is there more to it? You have to wonder.

He is willing to forever be a convicted felon just to cover for his boss? I just don't see it and neither do the Pops.

***

Have a great weekend everyone and for those of you living where it’s really cold, crawl back in your snuggly warm cat bed and have a snooze on me.

*Yes Donnie, I changed the title just for you. So where’s the extra Cosmic catnip you promised?

Virtual Group Intervention

Let’s have a virtual group intervention for president bush. He’s sitting here in this chair and you each get to tell him the harm his presidency had caused you, our country, or whatever you think he needs to hear to persuade him to change his ways.

Go for it.

Comment on Comments

After reading all your comments regarding my Monday post, I was crying and smiling at the same time. Kind of like an emotional tornado or something.

All the time I was growing up I would have gotten a serious spanking if I had told anyone about my father and his drunken episodes. It was something my mother said we must not talk about with anyone. She said she was “ashamed” of the way we lived and she didn’t want anyone to know. I translated that to mean that we were living shamefully, and I must be shameful too.

Of course after my father died I was an adult and I did begin to talk about it a little. That’s when I found out something I had never known. I wasn’t the only kid who grew up in those conditions. My life wasn’t shameful and neither was I.

Your comments reminded me that there are lots of people out there who have experienced the same or similar childhoods. If I had known way back during childhood that mine was no freak life but simply another life dealing with alcoholism, it sure would have been good information, and it absolutely would have made a difference.

A couple of recovering alcoholics also were kind enough to comment as well. I so deeply admire them for what they are doing for themselves and everyone who loves them. I wish my father could have been that dedicated and faced the harsh reality of what he was doing to himself and his family. He never did.

So thank each of you for your comments and your understanding. You reminded me that I have done nothing for which I should be ashamed. You also reminded me that I have some wonderful understanding friends, thanks to these crazy tubes and wires we call the internets.

I’ve decided what to do with almost all the money. I am going to pay off the mortgage on our home. When I was little, we were evicted from a lot of rental houses because we were so far behind on the rent. I want to have the last say in this journey. So as an adult, Mr. Pop, Murphy, and Fred the Cat will henceforth live in a home that is paid for, free and clear. For me, that is indeed something fun!

What about the other side?

If you were exposed to any sort of media this past weekend, you know that Sen. Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama were in Selma Alabama. While there has been lots of discussion about these two Democratic presidential candidates being in attendance there, where were the Republican presidential candidates? Were any of them there? If not, why not?

***
Then there’s this tidbit of information.

“And hours after yesterday's presentation a high-ranking US official admitted that, despite spending $22 billion on reconstruction across Iraq, the Americans didn't expect Baghdad to have a 24-hour electricity supply until 2013.”

Telegraph.co.uk

As of now, according to this report, the average Iraqi has two hours of electric a day.

***
Tomorrow I will tell you what your comments yesterday will always mean to me.

Waiting by the window again, but for the last time

My father was discharged from the Army not long after he was drafted. This was many years ago. He received a medical discharge because he had an ulcer. I guess that was a viable reason for discharge at that time. I don’t know. My mother said he was discharged because he got drunk and that aggravated the ulcer. Who knows or cares what the true reason might have been? I don’t.

Because of this medical discharge my father was to receive a monthly check from the government for the rest of his life. I can’t remember how much the check was for, but I sure do remember many months sitting by the window and watching for the mailman to deliver it to our house. It came on approximately the same day of the month each time.

As I have told you in the past, my father was a chronic alcoholic who would start drinking and stay drunk for a week or more at a time. There were times during these episodes when he was basically an invalid unable do much more than lay in bed and demand more liquor at the top of his lungs. It was an awful site and situation.

After one of these episodes ended, another of his jobs would be lost and again we would have to move to another house. No salary means a lot of things, including no payment of rent or utilities.

Due to the drinking and all that went with it, we were more often poor than not. That’s where the government check came into such anticipated play. Many, many months due to the expenditures for alcohol, we had no money. The arrival of that check would mean some groceries for our table. The excitement of receiving “daddy’s government check” will forever remain in my mind.

Today I am awaiting the FedEx delivery truck. I am looking out my window and watching for its arrival. That truck will be bringing me another check. It’s not “daddy’s government check”. I’m not poor or broke. We have plenty of food for our table.

This check results from the sale of the home my family last lived in together and the only home we ever actually owned. The check is my portion of the proceeds from the sale. The sale of the home has no sentimental effect on me. I have too many bad memories of that place to pine for it. My father’s continued drinking and his continued abuse may haunt that place. My mother’s neglect and abuse and the results from her enabling my father’s drinking may haunt it too. No, I don’t care that the house was sold. For all means and purposes this sale ends any legal attachment I have to the rest of my family.

Today I wait for another check. It’s not “daddy’s government check” but it is the last check that connects me in any way to my dead father or the rest of my family. This will be the last time I will sit by my window and watch for anything that reminds me of my childhood. It’s finally over!

Friday with Fred the Cat

Okay, once again guys I am troubled with you human beings. I overheard the Pops discussing the hospitals your injured soldiers are coming home to find. From what I heard it’s so disgusting and awful. These places have mold, insects and mice.

See, I’m a cat. I’m no soldier. But you know what? The animal hospitals I have been in have been wonderful. The people are nice to all us creatures while we are there. They see to our every need. They clean our enclosures all the time. We have our food and water and a whole bunch of affection. We also get all our medical treatment just as soon as we need it.

I have never been in a animal hospital where there was mold or insects or mice. However speaking strictly from a feline’s point of view, a few mice running around in my enclosure might make for a bit of fun.

Seriously folks, can’t you make your government offer your injured soldiers a hospital that would at least measure up to the ones we animals have? It seems it would be a grand improvement.

Give this some thought, okay?

Have a great weekend

My Own Little Test

This is a little test I personally came up with and use to help me when I choose which candidate I will vote for in a presidential election.

I ask myself, if my family and I were going overseas for a month, which of the candidates would I trust to house-sit my home. This person would take care of the daily duties of my home, take care of my pets, plants, and using my check book, take care of all my financial obligations. Which of the candidates would I trust to do all these things in a caring responsible way?

Using my test, of the candidates we have now, who would get your vote?