Specter another Lieberman?

Will Specter actually help the Democratic party or will he be another whiny pain in the ass like Lieberman?

No Tweets Here

I won’t be signing up for Twitter. I have dozens of reasons for my decision but the main one is, I don’t want to be obliged to be responsible to any other type of communication.

I have a cell phone but the only person who knows that number is Mr. Pop. I consider my cell phone to be for emergencies and little else. I detest talking on the phone and a ringing phone is obnoxious.

As for Twitter, I can’t think of a single person I know or don’t know that I am so interested in that I would want to follow their every thought and deed all day long. Hell, I’m not all that interested in my own thoughts and deeds so why would anyone else be?

Nope, posting a blog is about as connected to the rest of the world as I intend to be for the foreseeable future. If I want someone to know what I’m doing at any given time, I’ll just do it the old fashioned way, I’ll email them.

I hold no animosity toward anyone who finds Twitter interesting and fun. I do hold animosity toward everyone talking out loud on their cell phone in a public place, especially when I can hear both sides of the conversation.

I feel that just because there is something “new” that doesn’t mean I have to want it or need to have it. Life hands you enough obligations why take on one Tweet more?

Question

How concerned are you at this point about swine flu?

Best Night of the Week!

God, I love the weekends, most especially I love Saturday afternoon and evening.

Saturday morning we head out to the local fish market which is kind of like “Cheers” in that everyone there knows our name. We choose one or a combination of fish or shrimp or clams or conch (for conch fritters). We usually also buy a container of their coleslaw because it is the best. We put whatever we have purchased in a small cooler that we keep in our car.

Next it’s off to the grocery market to stock up on the food we will need for the following week. Then we head back home.

We put all the food stuffs away and have lunch. If the lawn needs it, Mr. Pop goes out and tackles it with the mower and all the needed tools. Martini and I crawl onto our respective beds and watch something totally mindless on TV until we fall asleep. “What not to wear” on TLC falls into that somewhat interesting but totally mindless category nicely.

When Mr. Pop is finished with the lawn duties, he gets a shower and we fix cocktails while our Saturday night seafood feast preparations get underway. We drink, eat, talk, laugh, and just have such a wonderful time. I so love Saturdays!

A sad little story about a sweet little dog

Today I’m gonna tell you guys a sad little story about Martini. Okay, first I have to say for a dog, he’s as sweet and gentle as any little creature can be. That’s pretty good coming from a cat, don’t cha think?

Anyway, sometime during the night Wednesday night Martini had an accident (if you know what I mean) and it happened in the living room. There is no carpet in the living room just wood floors. When Pop woke up Thursday morning Martini didn’t come running to the bedside to greet her with kisses and wiggles. Instead he was cowering beside his bed. Pop picked him up and took him outside on his leash just as she always does. When they came back in she unhooked his leash and expected him to make a dash for the kitchen to await his breakfast. He didn’t do any of that, instead he just stood there with his little ears and tail down. Pop went into the kitchen to feed me, but Martini didn’t follow her. After she fed me, she went back into the living room to check on Martini. That’s when she discovered the accident he had during the night.

Pop never scolds her pets regarding accidents, in fact she doesn’t make any kind of fuss about it at all because it almost never happens. She knows that animals just sometimes can’t help it. Plus she doesn’t believe in giving negative attention, only reinforcing positive attention for positive behavior.

Martini watched her clean up the accident. (which if you think about how tiny Martini is, it cannot be a big deal) After everything was clean and sanitized, she went to Martini, picked him up and petted him. He kept looking at her face with such fear. Pop’s a softie and this made her cry. After holding him and talking softly to him, he began to come around and managed to eat about half his breakfast. It wasn’t until Mr. Pop came into the kitchen and was loving Martini the way he always does that Martini began to act his normal self.

Pop and Mr. Pop wonder what happened to him in his previous home that brought such fear to him for just doing something like having an accident in the middle of the night. From the time this accident happened, the poor little thing just hovered in fear for the rest of the night dreading what was to come next. As soon as Mr. Pop left for the lab, Martini crawled back into his little dog bed and slept like a baby (dog) for four hours straight. Martini has something to learn, no pet feels fear in this house. It’s all about love here and it’s all good!

Have a wonderful weekend and share the love

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

That Question I asked Yesterday

Yesterday I asked a question about torture. I asked if it were proven that torture stopped another 9-11 attack would you change your mind about acts such as water boarding. The reason I asked that question was for a gut check on myself.

Forget the legalities, I just have such a deeply lodged, stomach churning contempt for even the word “torture” that I can’t imagine any human being doing it. How could anyone condone the screams and horrors of watching such a thing take place? How could anyone allow for such horrendous barbarous treatment of human beings or for that matter any living creature?

My repulsion for such things goes deeper than I can explain in words. To that end I wondered if I was or should be more objective about the subject. Maybe I was blinded to something by my own repulsion. Maybe there was something rational that I was missing. Maybe I was just a wimp. The only thing I know for sure is that to my way of thinking it was and is, in every way, a crime by humanity against humanity. No matter what others may say, in my heart I know that torture is intolerable and inexcusable.

Would it Change Your Mind?

If it could be shown to you absolutely and without a doubt that torture had indeed prevented another 9-11 attack on the US, would it change your personal feelings regarding the use of torture methods such as water boarding?

Sometimes a Snark isn’t a Snark

My snarky post yesterday wasn’t that far off base. After I posted my snark, I did hear Joe Scarborough ranting and raving about President Obama’s demeanor as he met with Chavez and others. I’m not sure what Joe would have liked the President to have done when he came face to face with Chavez. Should he have given him a wedgie, stuck out his tongue, given him the finger, or what?

Pat Buchanan suggested President Obama should have demanded respect for his country. See? That’s one of the problems. We shouldn’t demand respect, we have to re-earn respect in the world. Being the jerk country with the jerk president just doesn’t cut it in the world, as the previous eight years have shown us.

While those on the right criticize the President’s demeanor, the people in other countries are seeing him and watching him. They don’t see him as a continuation of the last President, they see a pleasant, mild mannered and well mannered leader of the free world. I’m just guessing here, but I bet they like what they see. I do.

If those on the right spent as much time trying to come up with ideas that would benefit the country as they do picking nits, someone might actually seriously listen to what they have to say.

Oh My God!

Oh my god! Oh my god! Oh my god! The President of the United States shook hands with the President of Venezuela. Oh my god!

Okay. Whew, that’s over. So what is the new outrage of the day today?

The worst of humans The best of humans

From a cat’s point of view, one little video on YouTube brings out first the worst of humans as they judge a book by its cover, or in this case a woman by her appearance. They look at her and snicker and smirk. Then when she begins to sing in an almost angelic voice the best of humans comes forth. They show their ability to relish in beautiful music as it brings many to tears.

Just one woman, a woman most would never even notice, yet within her is the ability to make millions stop, listen and admire her amazing voice. She brought forth the worst but thankfully also the best in human beings, This cat, Fred the Cat, would like to thank, Susan Boyle, for that. Because of her, I have a little more faith in you two legged creatures.

I would also like to say hello and send a hug to Miss Boyle’s cat, Pebbles.

Have a great weekend and enjoy the best of human beings.

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

Tea Party Fail

From everything I read and heard yesterday, the tea baggin’ parties were a big blow.
The only successful one was the one I took Martini to but it was a private party in my backyard and the name was changed to a pee party which he enjoyed about six times.

Used Teabags

Perhaps the sexual connotation for “tea bagging” is more appropriate for the tea parties today than we originally thought. Seems those folks you’ll see today with their teabags flying around are being used and used big time.

But do the tea baggers know how much they are being used and by whom? Well, here and here are the answer to the second part of that question.

Tea Baggin’

Okay, I will quickly admit that I had never heard the term “tea bagging” and it’s sexual connotation. I had to inquire as to exactly what it meant. Who knew? Now I know.

Anyway, I haven’t been paying too much attention to the right wingers as of late, but I have heard about their tea parties they have planned for Wednesday. Seems Fox is the only news channel promoting this activity. It also seems all wrong for a news channel to promote protests against the government. I did see that Fox News found at least one Democrat who said she will be attending one of these such parties.

I have another question about this tea bagging they are planning. What is it exactly they are protesting? Is it government spending or are they just venting because President Obama won the election last November? Are these protestors or just Mad Hatter’s, asking riddles to which they too have no answers?

A Sinful Pig and on Easter Too

As Fred the Cat told you Friday, our Easter fell apart before it began. Mr. Pop had to spend what time he had at home yesterday morning finalizing the presentation he is giving at the meeting today. He left for the airport at one in the afternoon.

I decided to commit a sin and spent part of the afternoon frying chicken. Is there anything better than leftover cold fried chicken if you decide to make a late night raid on the frig? I will brag and say I can sure as hell fry great chicken. It was delicious with a little potato salad and some fruit on the side.

After filling almost up on my sinful meal, I dove into a box of locally made chocolate candy that was one of my birthday presents from Mr. Pop. Yes, yes, I know it sounds like I was a total pig and I was. It was much more fun to be a total pig than to sit around and feel bummy due to a lack of Easter Bunny cheer and my sweetheart.

So now that you know what I did in lieu of Easter cheer, how was your Easter?

Good Friday Bad Sunday

This is Good Friday and it’s also good because today is Pop’s happy birthday. I’ll be sharing my catnip with her today.

The bummer is that on Easter Sunday, Mr. Pop has to fly out of town around noon in order to be at a business meeting on Monday morning. I don’t think I better repeat the words Pop and Mr. Pop used when they got word of this schedule. But in keeping with the Easter theme, they sure did talk about “ducks” a lot. They even called someone a ducking something or the other. I can’t remember the other words but I think they mentioned a bass hole. I guess that has something to do with a place you would fish. Pop said the person who arranged this meeting was a mother ducker. I haven’t heard her say that about someone in a long time.

So anyway, Easter at the Pop house will be cancelled this year, Pop’s favorite holiday of them all. She’s going to need me and Martini after Mr. Pop leaves on Sunday. We’ll take care of her until Mr. Pop returns on Tuesday. Martini will make her laugh for sure, heck, he makes me laugh too once in a while but don’t tell him. I don’t want him to get too full of himself.

Have a great weekend and here’s to you finding many chocolate eggs.

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

Another Martini story

Having only recently discovered the squeaky toys of the universe, Martini is like a moth to a flame when he hears that squeaky sound from a toy anywhere in the house.

Tuesday afternoon I was walking Martini in the backyard and he seemed about ready to do what he came out to do. I must say here that he is easily distracted when he is outside. If something catches his eye, he seems for forget the original mission of the outing.

I have told you in the past about the seasonal visits we have of swallow-tailed kites. What I might have failed to mention is the call of the kites. They sound exactly like a squeaky toy sound. (I bet you see where I’m going with this, don’t you?) Yep, just as Martini had found the perfect spot in the yard to take care of business, the kites came soaring over us and calling. Well, this threw Martini into total little dog freak-out confusion. He could hear that wonderful squeaky toy sound but it was coming from the sky. He totally forgot what he was about to do and instead looked around wildly for the flying toys. He looked up at me with such an excited yet confused little face. All he saw was me laughing like crazy at him.

Thank goodness the kites only flew one reconnaissance flight over us. Within a few minutes, Martini’s attention was back to nature and we could finally declare, Mission Accomplished!

Reality TV?

Who the hell needs reality TV when we have the Palin family alive and kicking? Toss in Levi Johnson’s family and you have an all time hit. Just imagine if these Alaskan hillbillies had gotten into DC for four years. The scariest part is that they got as close as they did.

In Defense of Dog Toys

Our new little dog, Martini, has been with us just a bit over two months. Two such happy and fun months they have been. He’s our love and yes, our entertainment too.

Getting to know a new little dog is sometimes trying but most times fun. He sleeps in his bed beside ours. At first if either of us moved during the night he was up like a shot to see what was going on. Now he sleeps no matter who gets up or when. When he does wakeup he heads for the front door telling me he needs to go out. When I bring him back in, around 6:00am, he eats his breakfast and makes one more trip outside. When Mr. Pop leaves for work, Martini heads back to bed.

About noon he comes to find me and let me know, after another trip outside, he’s ready to play and have fun. I happily welcome that request. He chooses which toy he wants me to toss for him and away we go at throw and fetch. At some point he doesn’t chase the toy but instead just snuggles up to me, rolls over and lets me rub his tiny tummy.

This whole playing thing begins again when Mr. Pop comes home. Mr. Pop and I both play with him and I think for this little dog, that’s about as good as life can get.

Yes, I do drop a couple of bucks on dog toys, but this little guy is my daytime companion, he’s my and our entertainment. We don’t go to the movies and we may go out to eat once a week. I believe most would say we life a fairly frugal life. Our house and car are paid for. We have no credit card debts and as you know we are weekly donators to our local food pantry, in a big way. So am I wasting money by buying fun things for my little dog to play with? I just don’t think so, and neither does Martini. He says variety is the spice of a little dog’s life.

The Teddy Bear from Hell

We went out yesterday to pick up a few things and took Martini with us. We stopped by PetSmart, put Martini in a cart and wheeled him down the dog toy aisle. As we cruised along a little brown fuzzy Teddy bear caught Martini’s eye. I picked it up to let him smell it and see it closely and he turned into a wiggly little fluff of dog. So we purchased the bear along with another toy and headed for home.

Once we got home I took both toys from the bag to remove all the tags etc. After I cut the tags from the little brown bear, I squeezed it to see if it had a squeaker inside. It didn’t but the surprise was that the damned thing played “Rock-a-bye-baby” when it was squeezed. Martini looked at it and smartly turned and walked away.

Nowhere on that toy did it state the thing played music. Now we are referring to it as the Teddy bear from hell. Martini will retrieve it but if he hits the part that makes the music begin, he drops it, stares at it, and slowly backs away.

The moral of the story: Always squeeze dog toys before you purchase them or else you too might own a Teddy Bear from Hell.

Fred the Cat’s theory about Republicans

I keep seeing strange people on TV. There’s this guy Glenn Beck and some guy whose last name is Hannity. Finally who can forget the guy they called Joe the Plumber. Notice all these strange humans are of the Republican party. Why is that you might wonder.

Okay, here’s my theory. The Republicans have needed strange people in the past to get them elected. That worked for a while but for the last couple of years, not so much. So now they have all these strange people in their party and they would like them to not be there anymore, because well, it makes their party look like a freakin’ sideshow. How to get rid of them might just be a frequent question asked within the party. Maybe someone said, how about we quietly move them into a third party, a Crazy party if you will.

They found some of the more freakier ones and made them famous. Thus we have the ones I mentioned above. People are following Beck, they actually honor Joe the Plumber and Hannity is well, Hannity. So I, Fred the Cat, think these folks and others have been chosen by the Republicans to be like St. Patrick who lead the snakes out of Ireland. But in this case, the Republicans hope these “celebrities” will instead lead the whack jobs out of the Republican party and off into the never-to-be-heard-from-again land, fondly called the Crazy party.

Like I said, it’s just my feline theory. You think they would be smart enough to come up with a plan like that?

Have a great weekend with those you love

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

Oh, come on now

Wasn’t it foolish and bad enough when the Republicans came out with their first budget plan that amounted to nothing more than a pamphlet? I guess not because they opted to come out on April Fools Day with their real budget plan which was basically doing more of the same financially that didn’t exactly win over the voters last November.

Bottom line, if you are going to try to be serious when doing something stupid, don’t plan to do it on April Fools Day.

Would You Pay to Read Newspapers On Line?

If all the big newspapers fail, would you be willing to pay to read them on line? Suppose the fee was comparable to what you now pay for your local newspaper.

I’m not sure I would because sitting at the computer first thing in the morning and reading the newspaper just seems all wrong. I want to have a newspaper in front of me in the kitchen while I’m enjoying my first cup of coffee. I want those crossword puzzles there with me too. The Palm Beach Post has two crossword puzzles in it every morning. If I can master them both, now that starts the day off right!