Computer Challenged

We all know by now that Senator McCain does not know how to use a computer. Something as simple as email is foreign to him.

I think we should be concerned that he has neither the inclination nor the curiosity that would make him want to learn just the basic things about computer technology. When did he decide he didn’t need to keep up with everyday progress? Are there other areas where he is as out of touch?

Is he purposely refusing to learn or is he incapable of learning? Either reason is disturbing.

Blowin’ Stuff Up

One of those nights of the year that dogs and cats hate must be coming up. I see film on TV of people blowing the hands off mannequins and blowing up watermelons, so the Fourth of July must be on the way.

I’ll never understand why humans get such joy out of things that make so much noise. For us dogs and cats it’s not so much fun and sadly a lot of us get so scared we run away from home.

Don’t mean to be a bummer this week but, like Pop, I don’t like loud noises and people playing with things that can hurt them and scare animals. That stuff should be left to pyrotechnics professionals and kept out or the neighborhoods.

Mr. Pop says that it’s typically American for people to drink too much alcohol, play with explosives and then call it a celebration.

Have a great weekend and hug someone real tight

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

Ralph Nader’s Comments regarding Senator Obama

“He wants to appeal to white guilt. You appeal to white guilt not by coming on as black is beautiful, black is powerful. Basically he's coming on as someone who is not going to threaten the white power structure, whether it's corporate or whether it's simply oligarchic. And they love it. Whites just eat it up.”
(quote source)

WTF is Ralph talking about? Which voting bloc is he trying to win with that statement?

Your Turn

Today it’s your turn. What’s on your mind today? Personal or political, what is your priority today?

Rules of garbage cans?

One of our neighborhood garbage pickup days is early Saturday morning. We always sit the garbage can out by the road late Friday night so that we do not need to rise and shine too early Saturday morning. Later in the day on Saturday we bring the empty can back into the garage and that’s that.

Here’s a phone conversation I had with my crazy old neighbor across the street this past Saturday afternoon.

(Telephone rings)
Me: Hello
Crazy Old Neighbor: Let me speak to Mr. Pop (Mr. Pop was standing beside me motioning he didn’t want to talk to crazy old neighbor)
Me: I’m sorry, Mr. Pop is busy now. Can I give him a message?
Crazy Old Neighbor: Does he know where my garbage can is?
Me: No. Have you looked up and down the street, maybe it got turned over and rolled away.
Crazy Old Neighbor: I have looked everywhere, it’s gone. Someone told me not to put my garbage can in a big black plastic bag and seal it up because it would be thrown into the garbage truck.
Me: Is that what you did? Did you place your garbage can inside a big black plastic bag and seal it up? (I wasn’t even going to ask why he would do that)
Crazy Old Neighbor: Yes! (Getting testy now) I must speak to Mr. Pop!
Me: Why?
Crazy Old Neighbor: I want to know if he knows the rules of garbage cans.
Me: (trying my best not to laugh) I can tell you that he does not know the rules of garbage cans.
Crazy Old Neighbor: You have been of no help! (He slams the phone down)

Damn! People can get mad fast if you can’t tell them what they want to know. If anyone happens to know the “rules of garbage cans”, please share them with me.

The Flip Side

If you watched any of the Sunday talking heads yesterday, you probably heard this Republican talking point more than once. If the US had started offshore drilling off the coast of Florida twenty years ago gasoline wouldn’t be four dollars a gallon today.

Okay, how about this? If the US had put serious money and effort into finding alternative fuels twenty years ago, perhaps we wouldn’t be so damned dependent on oil and gas today.

Al Gore Gets It!

I, Fred the Cat, know that Al Gore is thinking about you and me and my fellow pets.

“If you bought poisoned, lead-filled toys from China or adulterated medicine made in China, if you bought tainted pet food made in China, you know that elections matter! After the last eight years, even our dogs and cats have learned that elections matter.”

Couldn’t have said it better myself. Elections matter to all of us!

Have a great weekend and share the love

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

Gov. Charlie Crist loves his new flip flops

On May 15th of this year I wrote here about my fears that higher gas prices would result in less concern for our country’s environment. My fears appear to be coming true.

McCain, Bush and now the governor of my state are calling for off shore drilling. Governor Charlie Crist only days ago said he was adamantly against drilling off the coast of Florida. Today he’s all for it. He’s basically saying, to hell with what I said before, I’ll happily sell my freakin’ soul for the republican party and a shot at being the vice president of the United States.

What do you call someone who goes back on their word for personal gain? What do you call someone who puts their own ambitions before the good of their state? I call that person a typical republican politician. Oh yeah, and a total SOB.

Justice?

I know what you and I want. We would like the criminals, in and associated with this administration, to be brought to justice and made to pay for what they have done. We want that at times so much we can taste it.

Having said that, do you really think a single one of them will be made to answer for their crimes, ever?

Overkill for the Dead

Last Friday when I heard of the death of Tim Russert, my fragile heart broke. I was sad as hell for his wife and son and father. Just like that, whoosh, he was gone forever. I felt I had to do what I usually don’t do. I had to post over Fred the Cat’s post on Friday. I wanted to say something about Tim Russert’s death, and I did.

But then something began to happen on TV. Everyone began to talk of Mr. Russert’s death and give verbal tributes to the man. At first it was fitting and admirable, but as the hours and days passed, these tributes became noise and chatter. They made him bigger than life and more important than I think he himself would have admitted.

By Sunday morning all had been said that could be said. All had cried who wanted to cry. More memories had been exposed than maybe should have been shared. By midday Sunday it went from reverence to ridiculous.

There comes a time when it is best to allow the dead to remain as such and silently grieve if that is what is in your heart. What the media did to this man’s death was to use their own emotions to the point of overkill. At some point, their chatter and redundancy became irritating rather than sincere. When that happened I feel they were dishonoring his life and his death.

A Campaign Song for John McCain

Seems John McCain is having a little problem finding a campaign song that the writer of the song will allow him to use. So I’m thinking, I bet if we crank up our gray matter, we could come up with a song that fits McCain. One of my first thoughts was “Old Man River”.

In Memory

Mr. Russert I will miss you at my Sunday morning breakfast table. It just won’t be the same without you.

May your family find the strength they will need at this very sad time.

In your memory and only for you, Mr. Russert, I will say, "Go Bills!"

Rest In Peace, Mr. Russert.

Boo!

I know it isn’t Halloween, but I’m gonna scare you anyway. Here a little message from Senator McCain:

“Asked whether he’d be interested in Cheney had the vice president not already have served under Bush for two terms, McCain said: ‘I don’t know if I would want him as a vice president. He and I have the same strengths. But to serve in other capacities? Hell, yeah.”
(quote source)

How does that make you feel?

On that spooky note, I’ll wish you a great and safe weekend.

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

What’s Senator Obama up against?

A Republican candidate who, when asked when the troops can come home, answered, It’s “not too important” when the troops will be able to come home.

Tell that to their families, Senator McCain. When my friend was in Iraq for 13 months, it was very important to his family and to me when he could come home. Thank goodness he finally did.

Impeachment?

Do you think it would be realistic to begin impeachment proceedings against bush and cheney at this point?

I have mixed feelings about it, especially with only a few months left in the term. As much as I would like to see it on record and see them to go out with world shame, I just don’t know how much good it would do now or what they might do in return and out of spite.

So why vote for McCain?

This weekend I tried to put myself in the position of a Republican voter. No, I didn’t pull any muscles or break any bones, I just tried to see things from their point of view. I was trying to find some reason to vote for McCain.

I kinda feel sorry for those voters because, try as I might, I couldn’t think of one thing that he stands for that would make him attractive as a president for Republicans this year.

I’m thinking there may be many Republicans who say they will vote for McCain, but when they are alone with that ballot in their hand, they may check off the name, Barack Obama. Why wouldn’t they? If I were in their place, I would.

Consider the Source

Remember the media who told us some time back that Rudy and Hillary would be the certain nominees for president in ’08? Okay, that same media is telling us today the supporters of Senator Clinton will split the Democratic party in November.

Senator Clinton’s supporters are not going to split the party. Sure, some are raising hell now and they may raise hell in November, but true Hillary supporters will honor her final request of them and now support Senator Obama. They know the mess our country is in today and they sure as hell won’t put their feelings ahead of doing the one thing they know will prevent the further destruction of our country. They won’t vote for McCain. I have more faith in my fellow Democrats than that.

PARTY!

I am one happy feline today. You guys did it! You made my favorite candidate your nominee to be the next President of the United States. I have a great big hug waiting for each of you. And I promise my claws will not be used when I give you that hug.

Just imagine how we are all going to feel in November when we can say, President Obama. Oh my, such a party there will be! You guys will ring bells and blow horns. I’m guessing there will be a shortage of adult alcoholic beverages on the store shelves. I’ll be up to my whiskers in Cosmic catnip, too.

Okay guys, go out there and make it happen. Let’s get Senator Obama elected so we can get this party started!

Have a great weekend and do something sweet for someone

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

What Happened?

If you believe there was a problem in Senator Clinton’s campaign, what was it?

Some say an Obama/Clinton ticket would be the dream ticket, others say it would be a nightmare ticket. What would be your dream ticket?

I gotta be honest here

I consider myself a pretty strong woman. I have fought against the odds a lot of times and if my heart was in the fight, most of the time I won.

I led a divorce against my ex-husband when it seemed the world was against me. That world included my family who thought I was nuts for walking away from a marriage to a financially well heeled man. I had no money of my own and my future looked damned bleak. But having grown up with an alcoholic father had not trained me to be married to an alcoholic spouse.

After the divorce I set my course and fought upstream until I reached my goal. I discovered how to live happily. I relied on the only person who seemed to have faith in my abilities, me.

I tell you this because I watched Senator Clinton these last couple of weeks as she campaigned. She campaigned on, even though her chances of winning the nomination grew smaller by the minute. She would step up to the microphone and smile as she tried her best to convince the world that she could, in the end, be the victor.

As strong as I feel I am, I could not do what she was doing. When all the walls you run into are brick, how do you keep your composure? How do you keep smiling and going?

I don’t know how she did it and maybe I even wonder why. I’m sorry, but if I were in her shoes, I’m afraid I would be crying instead of smiling.

I don’t know how much of her continuing determination was her own or that of her husband. I don’t know if she pushed herself or if she was pushed. But no matter, her persistence was somewhere between amazing and questionable, yet she could smile through it all.

Are You Sure?

Americans, are you so angry at Senator Clinton’s possible loss of the Democratic nomination that you are willing to vote for Senator McCain? Are you so angry that you are willing to punish your daughters’ and granddaughters’ by being responsible for the loss of their freedom to choice? That freedom of choice could and most likely will be taken away if Senator McCain becomes our next president.

Senator McCain has stated that he will appoint strict constructionist judges to the Supreme Court. That means more like Alito and Roberts. Are you willing to punish your future family members in order to express your anger today? Do you want to shoulder any responsibility for that?

Being angry is one thing, but being vindictive and punishing future generations is another.

Loss and Losing

In regard to the war, we keep hearing that Americans do not like to “lose”. Lose what?

I know we don’t like to lose lives needlessly in a war that should have never been. I know we don’t like to be responsible for the loss of innocent Iraqi lives. We don’t like to lose tons of money to a war machine. We don’t like to lose our homes. We don’t like to lose our mode of transportation due to high gasoline prices. And we sure as hell don’t like to lose our good reputation all around the world. For a country that doesn’t like to “lose”, we sure have lost a lot and we’re still losing.