An Adult and a simple childish figure

Did you happen to catch the appearance yesterday of Gordon Brown and bush at Camp David? They held this event out on the lawn.

While I was not in agreement with everything Brown said, at least he conducted himself as an adult. He seemed sincere with his thoughts. He respected his audience.

Meanwhile, our own president was his usual embarrassing self. He tried to be funny, not his best talent. He made personal comments to some of the media people who were asking questions. When he wasn’t talking he was standing there looking totally bored. I expected that at any moment we would see him go scampering across the lawn chasing a grasshopper.

At one point bush said the he and Gordon Brown thought alike. Could he have insulted Prime Minister Brown anymore?

How’ll you know?

You’ll know you’re becoming an old fart when you begin to ______?_____

Philosophical, Fred the Cat

After the person who owns the lot next door decided to chop down all the trees over there and basically lunar-scaped the place, a very invasive wildflower took over. The flowers are small and yellow.

Ever so often Mr. Pop has to crack the whip at the fence line to keep these flowers from sneaking through the fence and taking over the entire yard. When you look at the vacant lot you just see yellow flowers and green leaves, nothing ever seems to change.

This week one little flower made it through the fence. One little yellow flower against the backdrop of the brown fence. It was so pretty. It became an individual in a location where there were none of its kind. It was no longer one of many, it was one alone. Its beauty was so noticeable because it was away from the other hundreds just like it.

Seems to me there is a message there. Perhaps if we step outside our own kind, leave the comfort of what is the norm and go where we can become an individual to showcase our own beauty, we might find others who appreciate our individuality. Maybe more of us should sneak through the fence.

Let’s face it, if you walked into a room and saw me along with hundreds of other black and white cats, you might miss the beauty of my individuality. Just think of the treasure you might miss. Me? A conceited cat? Never.

That’s just my feline take on a hint from Mother Nature.

Have a great weekend

Sincerely,
Fred the Cat (the cat who loves you guys)

Thinking about Moving?

If you live in America, have you found yourself giving somewhat serious thought to moving permanently to another country?
If you do not live in America, do you have any desire to move here?

Ah! At last! The plan to bring peace to Iraq, kind of

The quote below came from yesterday’s New York Times. The senior officer was speaking about plans to bring some sort of peace to Iraq.

“We are going to try a dozen different things,” said one senior officer. “Maybe one of them will flatline. One of them will do this much. One of them will do this much more. After a while, we believe there is chance you will head into success. I am not saying that we are absolutely headed for success.”

Is it just me or do his remarks bring to your mind a picture of someone desperately flinging all sorts of things against the wall to see if anything will stick? Is this what our “plan” has come down to? And as the flinging continues, so does the killing.

‘Cause it’s kinda funny

I have a "Far Side" day by day calendar. My favorite cartoon, so far this year on that calendar, shows a family of garden slugs in their car driving down the road. There’s a sign on the side of the road ahead of them that reads, “The Great Salt Lake”. The daddy slug says to the others, “Hey, everyone! Time for a swim!”
The caption of the cartoon is, “Slug vacation disasters”

If you don’t get it, it’s because you have never dealt with slugs in your garden. And no, I don’t do it anymore, but as a kid, I confess that I did.

One little step One larger step

July 22, 2007
“Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Russ Feingold announced today that he will introduce two censure resolutions condemning the President, Vice President and other administration officials for misconduct relating to the war in Iraq and for their repeated assaults on the rule of law.”
(more here)

I guess it’s better than doing nothing. At least if they did this, there would be a historical record that showed that while our country was being taken to hell, some of us disapproved.

Across the ocean there is something new.

“When terrorists tried to blow up civilians in London and Glasgow, Gordon Brown, the new British prime minister, responded in his own distinctive way.

What had just been narrowly averted, he said, was not a new jihadist act of war but instead a criminal act. As if to underscore the point, Brown instructed his ministers that the phrase "war on terror" was no longer to be used and, indeed, that officials were no longer even to employ the word "Muslim" in connection with the terrorism crisis.”
(more here)

Wonder if he asked george bush’s permission to make this change? Wonder if he gives a good damn what george bush thinks about it? I doubt it.

One pissed off Cat

Fred the Cat here and I’m mad as hell. If this man is guilty as charged, he is a disgrace to your species.

“The Atlanta Falcons quarterback -- the league's second-highest paid player -- on Tuesday was indicted by a federal grand jury on multiple charges related to illegal dogfighting.

Vick and three others are accused of violating federal laws against staging dog fights, gambling and engaging in unlawful activities across state lines. The 18-page indictment includes specific and graphic details of Vick and others running Bad Newz Kennels and executing dogs that didn't perform well by methods such as hanging, drowning, electrocuting, shooting and "slamming at least one dog's body to the ground."

What kind of humans would do something like that? Makes me sick to my feline stomach. If you humans want to fight and kill one another, that’s one thing, but forcing animals to fight and kill one another for your entertainment is an idea that only your species could have thought of.

Have a great weekend and give your pets a special hug from me

Sincerely,
Fred the Cat (the cat who loves you guys)

Meet the newest member of our yard family

Remember sometime back when I told you that sadly we had to have two pine trees removed from our yard? Both trees has been stressed by the hurricanes and that allowed beetles to begin to kill them.

Well, here’s a new little tree to our yard. It’s a magnolia but sort of a mini magnolia as it will only grow to about 25 feet high. Today it’s about four feet high and already has beautiful blossoms. If you have never smelled a magnolia blossom, you surely have missed one of Mother Natures finest fragrances.

Did Hannah come calling?

When I lived across the street and down a few houses, a big gopher tortoise just like this one would visit my yard every day and eat whatever of our plants she liked. Often times if I had bananas in the house I would put one out for her. We became as much friends as a human and a tortoise can.

Some mornings when I would forget her bananas, she would come to our screen door and bang her head against the kick plate of the door. The noise would get my attention and also a banana for her. I began calling her Hanna because it rhymed with her favorite food.

After I moved from across the street (almost ten years ago), Hannah stayed behind. When people rented that house we would tell them about Hannah and her bananas continued to come to her.

We sold that house was sold in April of this year and I saw no more of Hannah. That is until possibly yesterday.

I was washing up some dishes while gazing out the kitchen window. That’s when I saw the tortoise in my back yard. I grabbed a banana and my camera. What were the odds the tortoise would wait for me to take a picture? So I approached my visitor while softly calling, “Hannah”. The tortoise stopped and looked at me. I kept talking and not once did the tortoise draw itself into its shell. She watched me as I peeled a bit of the banana, all the while still talking to her. I knelt down and held out my hand with the banana in it. Slowly she moved her head nearer my hand and then she carefully took a bite of the banana. I laid the rest of the banana on the grass for her. I waited as she continued to eat. As she ate, my camera clicked away. You can see banana bits on her mouth in the picture.

Was it Hannah? Could a gopher tortoise remember me, my voice and my treats for her? I don’t know, but I sure would like to think so. I sure would like to believe that it was Hannah who came calling yesterday.

Will you? When?

Have you made a financial campaign contribution to any of the 2008 presidential candidates?
If you have, will you give more?
If you haven’t made a financial campaign contribution to any of them yet, do you plan to and when?

I’m curious because I’m still holding onto my money. I’ll contribute to one of them but not now.

Pols and Polls

Last week and many times before, george bush said he pays no attention to polls. Other politicians have said the same or similar things. McCain said he makes his decisions based on principles, not polls. Do these people realize that polls reflect the voice of We the People?

Fred the Cat lets himself out of the bag

Last week some of you guys asked me to divulge some things about myself. Okay, first of all I have all my shots. I am immune to all cat diseases and I’m also immune to tags and memes. Pop even has that shot too.

Plus, because of my undercover work, I can't tell you too much about my personal life. I just can’t take the chance of being out-ed. I’m not sure what that means but after living outside the first year or so of my life, I can tell you that’s not someplace I want to go again. No outing for me, thanks.

There are a couple of things that I guess I can finally tell you about me. You may find this hard to believe, but I can’t type. Are you shocked? I thought you might be. Did you really think a cat could type? Come on, get real. Actually, Murphy the dog types all my posts for me.

The other thing that I can tell you is that I think I have magic fur. Monday morning when Pop was so upset due to the electric being out and Mr. Pop being gone, she began to rub her hand over my head and down my back. Just like magic, she stopped being upset and instead began cooing and talking to me. First thing you know, she’s smiling and happy again. I’m the man! I am the Magic Fur Cat!

Have a great weekend and try to find a cool place for your catnap.

Sincerely,
Fred the Cat (the cat who loves you guys)

Summertime and the Living is Queasy

Heck, why have we been spending all that money on NSA wiretaps and cameras when all we really needed to alert us of an impending terror attack is Chertoff’s gut? Wonder if he can also tell when it’s going to rain by the ache in his trick knee?

"We could easily be attacked," Chertoff added.” Easily? I thought we were fighting in Iraq so Al Qaeda couldn’t gain a stronghold from which to attack us again. Looks like, even without a stronghold, Chertoff thinks it’ll still be easy for them to attack us. Don’t know about you, but I bet if we had stayed serious, both eyes focused and determined in Afghanistan, attacking us wouldn’t be so “easily” done today.

Scary old, Chertoff, just wanted to remind us that even in the summertime, we must remember to be very afraid. Fear should never get a day off in America.

Oh wait! Last night we heard this. “U.S. intelligence analysts have concluded al-Qaida has rebuilt its operating capability to a level not seen since just before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks,…”

So do we have the terrorists on the run? I dunno.

Sensibility vs. Stubbornness

So far six Republican senators have spoken out against continuing to dig that bloody hole in Iraq. Bush on the other hand seems to think that if the troops just keep on digging, pretty soon the hole will be filled. Okay, filled with dead bodies, but heck that doesn’t seem to bother the commander guy much.

With the pressure from these senators and probably others quietly, do you think bush will finally see the light and start withdrawing troops or will his stubbornness prevail and we won’t see any noticeable change in the number of our troops in Iraq?

BOOM!

That’s what we heard here yesterday morning at five o’clock. Just one really loud and big, BOOM! That’ll wake you out of a sound sleep and fast. Mr. Pop and I jumped up like we had been popped out of a toaster. In unison we said, “WTF was that?”

Seems a transformer had blown up down the street and all the electric on our block was out. I grabbed the flashlight and found my cell phone. In a haze of just waking up, I called and reported the outage to a recording at the electric company. The recording said I could expect the electric to be back on by nine in the morning. Bummer!

No coffee, no TV news, no computer, no nothing but darkness. Because Mr. Pop was about to leave on a weeklong business trip, I was already in a mild state of anxiety. Now sitting in the dark, that state of anxiety went from mild to a full blown anxiety attack. I hate it when that happens. I get all nervous, find breathing difficult and I can’t sit still.

I turned on one of the battery powered lamps we have for hurricane season and tried to read the newspaper. I had plenty of light but no way in hell could I concentrate on what I was reading. By the way, an ice cold Coke isn’t the same as a hot cup of coffee at five in the morning.

Mr. Pop got ready for his trip and took off about six thirty. I know he felt bad leaving me for a whole week to do all the household chores and now he was also leaving me in the dark.

After he left I went out on the patio and sat and watched the sun come up. Just, Fred the Cat, some early birds at the feeder and me. I realized that was the first time in a very long time that Fred the Cat and I had shared a sunrise together with only the sounds of his purring and the birds chattering in the background.

Sometime before the electric came back on at seven thirty, I realized something. My anxiety had faded away with the rising sun and the serenity of a quiet morning, a morning that began with a BOOM!

Securing Live Earth?

I hope you were able to take some time this past Saturday to enjoy the music and the message of the Live Earth concerts. It was indeed uplifting and fun to be exposed to so many types of music from around the world. When was the last time you saw something like that and were not asked for money? All Live Earth asked was our commitment to trying to save our earth’s future.

Something I noticed that was a bit out of the ordinary these days, was a lack of talk about the security of these concerts, especially the ones here in the US. I saw the organizer of all the events being interviewed. He was asked what it was like to try to organize something this large and far reaching. He said something to the effect that it was like trying to organize ten Super Bowls for one day.

We all know about the hype we hear each year before the Super Bowl about the high security that will in be in place the day of the game. I don’t recall hearing any of that same hype about these concerts. There were a lot of people all in one place in New York. Going by what we have been told in the past, that would seem to have been seen as a great target for terrorists.

Was the high security there and we just didn’t hear about it, or did they feel that the terrorists weren’t interested in blowing up people who enjoy music and care about the environment?

Mr. Pop had a “Forrest Gump” Moment and I’m letting the cat out of the bag

While I was away at camp and the Pops were on vacation, a funny thing happened.

Let me give you a little back ground before I tell you about Mr. Pop’s “Forrest Gump” moment.

Mr. Pop enjoys reading books written by Randy Wayne White. Mr. White has an ownership interest in a restaurant on Sanibel Island, where they vacationed a couple of weeks ago. Occasionally Mr. White comes into the restaurant and signs books for the patrons. While they were on vacation, the Pops ate at this restaurant several times because the say the food is dee-lish!

During one of those times, as they were having dinner, Ms Pop looked up and said to Mr. Pop, “Isn’t that Randy Wayne White over there?” Mr. Pop took a look and agreed that it was. At Ms Pop’s urging, Mr. Pop grabbed one of Mr. White’s latest books, “Hunter’s Moon” and went over to get Mr. White’s signature.

Ms. Pop continued to eat her dinner. After some minutes had passed she looked over to where Mr. Pop and Mr. White were standing. All sorts of people were coming up to Mr. Pop and smiling and shaking hands with him. Ms Pop thought, WTF?

A few more minutes passed and still Mr. Pop was being approached by smiling happy strangers who were going out of their way to introduce themselves and shake his hand.

Finally Mr. Pop returned to the table where Ms Pop was waiting. Mr. Pop was laughing like crazy. Seems a big group of local people were having a dinner meeting in the restaurant that night and for some reason they had mistaken Mr. Pop for the husband of some highly influential, local, political woman there in the area. Oops! These people were shaking hands with a great guy, just not the one they thought they were.

It was when the major owner of the restaurant came to shake hands with Mr. Pop and he asked him about his wife, Mrs. Somebody, that Mr. Pop realized what was going on. This had been a case of mistaken identity but it was kinda funny too, especially to Ms Pop.

Now the Pops are referring to this as Mr. Pop’s “Forrest Gump” moment. He just happened to be at the right place at the right time but not the right person.

Crazy human beings strike again!

Have a great weekend, stay cool and have as much legal fun as you can.

Sincerely,
Fred the Cat (the cat who loves you guys)

Here it is the Fifth, how was your Fourth?

Yesterday was a laid back day here at the Pop home. Even Fred the Cat was unusually lazy.

It was quiet until about three in the afternoon when the fireworks purchasers just couldn’t wait any longer and started shooting off stuff. One guy was shooting something that went weeeeeee and then POP. Nothing to write home about. The bizarre thing was the people who bought the big time fireworks started shooting theirs. These were the kind that go high into the air and then put out pretty little lighted sparks that do tricks. Of course since it was daylight so there wasn’t much of a show. You could see the smoke, but that was about it. I think there’s a reason these things should be used after dark.

At about three thirty, Mother Nature said, You want to hear loud noises? You want to see bright lights? Well, watch this. We had one hell of a thunder storm and about three inches of rain in the next hour or so. Mom Nature loves a challenge. She’ll win every time.

So how was your holiday? What did you do?

Peace

Peace is for some, a flag draped coffin. They rest in peace. It’s the peace that comes with death, or so we’re told. It probably is peace for someone who has suffered a tragic disease or a horrible accident. This isn’t about that kind of peace.

This is about the peace that is with us until the first bomb is dropped or the first shot is fired on the battlefield. This is about the blessed peace that too often is recognized for its preciousness only after it has been lost. This is about the peace that our country seems to feel is only for our people and our land. In order to preserve our peace at home we send our wars to other lands. This gives the appearance that our peace is more precious than theirs.

Sadly there are many families both here and in Iraq who will never have real peace again due to the loss of those they loved. Their hearts are broken in a way that may never be repaired. Their only hope for peace is the eternal peace they see in death. Curse the war and weep for what it has taken from them.

Today more will probably die in this war that our country chose to begin. No one is winning this war and everyone is losing. Rather than allow one more death, one more debilitating injury, or one more broken heart, why not bring our soldiers home? It’s time for America to declare Peace both here and in Iraq. It’s time to experience the kind of peace that life can bring instead of the kind we associate with death.

”Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.”
-Isaac Asimov-

”Bullets cannot be recalled. They cannot be uninvented. But they can be taken out of the gun.”
-Martin Amis-

(This was my post for peace last year and it still holds true today, one year later. Hopefully I will not be able to use it next year.)

Offering a Deal on Global Warming

If you don’t believe global warming is real or if you do believe it is real but refuse to believe that human beings have any responsibility for it, fine. However, would it be okay with you if we who do believe global warming is real and do believe we can do something about it, go ahead and try to make a difference?

We will conserve energy and work toward developing ways to cut down on water and air pollution. If we can succeed, we will share our success with you. If all we are able to do is make the world a better place for your children and grandchildren, well at least we can say we tried.

As the Car Burned

Saturday, as we were shown a never ending video loop of a car burning after some guys drove it into a wall at the airport in Scotland, here is what else was going on in the world.

“MUQDADIYA - A suicide bomber dressed as a policeman killed at least six people when he blew himself up outside a police recruitment centre in Muqdadiya, 90 km (50 miles) northeast of Baghdad, an Iraqi army source said.

FALLUJA - The U.S. military said it had uncovered 35 to 40 bodies in a mass grave south of Falluja, in Iraq's Sunni dominated Anbar province. . .

BAGHDAD - Four people were wounded when a mortar round landed in the Shi'ite neighbourhood of Abu Dshir in southern Baghdad, police said.”

This information is from Reuter’s via Professor Juan Cole’s website, “Informed Comment”.

Sort of makes a burning car pale in comparison when it comes to news, doesn’t it?