Taking Donations: Bloggers Against Cat Blogging

Who knew this was such a problem? But I respect Karlo so if he tells me that it is, I believe him. I'll go cash in cans and bottles tomorrow so I can donate.

BAC (Bloggers Against Cat-blogging) is Back. This anti-catblogging lobbying group has decided to re-form in response to the re-emergence of cat-blogging throughout the internets. In order to protect sensitive political bloggers from the horrors of cats blogging, BAC will be posting cat-blogging alerts.

The highest alert--code redcat--will be reserved exclusively for emergency situations when cats have over-run the internets and have taken over entire swaths of otherwise rational web content. If you see the red cat, you are to immediately ducktape your computer screen, dive into the corner of your room, and assume the cobra yoga position as you chant BAAAAAC with each out-breath. The following list of blogs will be quarantined indefinitely until the Department of Feline Security has had an opportunity to pepper spray the cyberspace behind their modems and scrub the hard-drives free of any stray frrrballs.

QUARANTINED BLOGS

At Ease, Adot's notblog, Trish Wilson's Blog, Progressive Protestant, Rob's Blog, Lab Kat, Dohiyi Mir, and Three-toed Sloth. If you want to do more to rid the blogosphere of catblogging, please send your money to Karlo at Swerve Left. He will put it to good use trying to rid the internet of the infiltrating felines.

When I've had a cat, such cats have refused to blog. It's just not their thing because it takes the human's mind off feeding them or watching them playing Indiana Jones as they dig in the litter box.

My dog, OTOH, does not object to blogging because he's jealous of the diversion. Instead, Ben refuses to blog because he knows I sometimes use colorful language and make really awful faces while doing so. Ben has an ardent distaste for anything that isn't calmly pursued.

Tom? Don't Make God Swear Out a Restraining Order on You for Harassment

Tom DeLay says today this whole trouble of his (not that it's his, mind you - he'll tell you this is all done by Godless whore evil doers) has brought him closer to God.

God, in response, would not comment publicly but was noted to be moving as faaaaaaarrrr away from the bugman as He could (God had a bad day, between DeLay and the new Pope who doesn't like a lot of His people).

Asbestos Bill

Arlen "Magic Bullet Theory" Specter introduced this "streamlined" Asbestos compensation bill with support from Patrick Leahy, the ranking Dem on the Senate Judiary Committee. But notice that it takes away the damaged parties' ability to sue.

Condi Calling Putin Drunk with Power is a Little Amusing, Don't You Think?

The president's other wife ... er... Secretary of Stiff Condoliezalotta Rice is over in Russia calling the kettle black.... uh... warning Russian president Vladimir Putin that naked abuse of power is only a miraculous directive granted her husband by God himselfisn't a good thing.

Bush: Worried About Energy Prices

Now he's worried?

Not until just now?

Has the president been napping for the last five years but in an especially deep coma for the last few months?

No, don't answer that. I know.

Question: With DeLay (Also) Going After Conservative-Appointed Supreme Assoc Justice Kennedy, Won't Kennedy Rise in Public Estimation?

Story here:

Conservatives have been pushing to get the Senate to confirm President Bush's most conservative judicial nominees, which Senate Democrats are blocking. The House has no power over which judges are given lifetime appointments to the federal bench.

However, DeLay has called repeatedly for the House to find a way to hold the federal judiciary accountable for its decisions. "The judiciary has become so activist and so isolated from the American people that it's our job to do that," DeLay said.

One way would be for the House Judiciary Committee to investigate the clause in the Constitution that says "judges can serve as long as they serve with good behavior," he said. "We want to define what good behavior means. And that's where you have to start."

Tom's definition of good behavior" is sure one to watch for.

One Good Note: Henry Hyde is Retiring from the House of Reprehensibles

From TalkLeft:

Congressman Henry Hyde (R-IL) announced Monday on his 81st birthday that he will not seek reelection. Rep. Hyde has served in the House for more than three decades.

Hyde was an unrelenting opponent of abortion. But, he did some good stuff too. He was the driving force behind civil asset forfeiture reform. Here are his congressional remarks from 2000 when CAFRA, the reform bill, passed.

Unfortunately, he will also be remembered for his "youthful indiscretion" that came to light following the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal.

On a related note, one of the best series of news articles on the law enforcement abuses in the asset forfeiture area is this one, Taking Cash into Custody, from the 1999 Kansas City Star, still available free online.

I want his House pension withheld for all the lying and obfuscation he created during the Clinton years. I do NOT want my tax dollars going to pay this priss-dressed bit of pond scum.

Mother of Michael Jackson's Accuser Deserves Top Federal Post

She fabricates and spins so fast while pouring money into a boob job and other accoutrements for herself so fast that I have NO doubt that Mr. Bush or Mr. Rove will be calling her later this week to offer her a top admin post.

Maybe make her head of the Ministry of Truth As We See It?

New Nutrition Pyramid from the Bushophiles Explained

Any questions?

Iraqi Lawmakers Demand Apology from the U.S.

It couldn't be anything Rumsfeld said when he was over telling them how to run a democracy, would it?

Oops, no. But almost as "good".

On a Frivolous Side Note

Your Linguistic Profile:

45% General American English

35% Yankee

15% Dixie

5% Upper Midwestern

0% Midwestern

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

I have NO idea where the 15% Dixie comes in since I venture out of New England as rarely as possible. Those who know me say I sound "without accent" or sound like a product of being reared between Manhattan and Boston (which I was). I do not, however, pahhhhk my cahhhhhr.

The New Pope: Called the Priest Sex Abuse Scandal a Creation of the Media and Said Gays Bring Violence Upon Themselves

I find myself heartily depressed tonight and at its core, in part, I believe is that the Catholic Church had an opportunity today and squandered it terribly. It fought for its limitations and elected them today.

Blah3 Gives Us a Hint About the Contest Over John Bolton Today

So a citizen blogger - Stranger at Blah3 - gives us a better view of what was going on in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee today than the media (all agog in their effort to "up" each other in heralding in the new Pope) managed to do.

I say this because I've seen watching the recorded events on CSPAN2 after catching Stranger's post:

From what I can gather, Dick Lugar is pushing for a vote right away. He is meeting some resistance - John Kerry is pushing for airing of more allegations of Bolton's bullying, and George Voinovich (R-OH) has already gone on the record as saying he'll vote against Bolton.

Pretty fascinating stuff. Bolton may be in more trouble than anyone has let on to this point. I don't know if the Democrats will be able to stop the nomination, but they are most definitely kicking up some dust here.

Extreme Evangelicals: Why Isn't Bush Spending All His Time Promoting Hatred and Division?

My heart bleeds. It really does. Well, no, not really. While I appreciate there are still people troubled by the idea of "sanctioning" homosexuality, it strikes me as insincere and an effort to make fear and hate dominate the dialog. Evangelicals have much greater concerns than whether gays can marry.

From Bloomberg with a link provided by the ever-industrious Buzzflash:

Phil Burress, who helped President George W. Bush win the battleground state of Ohio last November by leading the charge among religious groups to pass a gay- marriage ban, isn't pleased with the president's focus on Social Security.

``How come he's not stumping across America defending marriage?'' said Burress, 63, an evangelical Christian and president of Citizens for Community Values in Ohio. ``Marriage is a whole lot more important than Social Security.''

Burress's dissatisfaction illustrates one of the hurdles Bush confronts by putting at the top of his second-term agenda the effort to overhaul the Social Security program and let younger workers invest their payroll taxes in private accounts.

Voters who identify themselves as conservative Christians were a crucial part of the coalition that gave Bush a second term and Republicans a bigger majority in Congress. Some evangelical leaders, though not all, now express dismay with both Bush's priorities and his Social Security proposal, which they say could hurt their predominantly working class constituency.

``We're wising up to the fact that we're very important nine months before an election and we're not very important nine days after that election,'' said Don Wildmon, 67, an ordained minister who is chairman of the American Family Association in Tupelo, Mississippi.

There is ``a lot of disappointment'' among those who voted for Bush expecting him to make his primary focus in a second term a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage and other social values issues, Wildmon said.

Thru the Looking Glass of Ms. Mad

Idyllopus Press brings us a unique take on the Ann Coulter-Time debacle. It's about the closest I've ever gotten to smiling when the topic is The Grand Doyenne of Hate and Shrill.

New home starts WAY down

That's what CNN and MSNBC are saying right now. So much for "the encouraging indicators" the financial folks were looking for in reports due this week.

Any Doubt They'll Push Through John Bolton at the U.N.?

None here.

He's a disastrous choice but so has every other candidate Mr. Bush puts forward.

Cost of War Counter Revisited

Since I see my blog more often than you do, it's easy for me to be aghast at how damned quickly the Cost of Iraq war counter at the right climbs ever upward.

And that's just Iraq. And just the expenditures the Pentagon releases.

And that's without proper armor for all our troops, the many times where our troops have no bullets, and without the damage we're doing to Iraq that will need to be rebuilt.

Minuteman Mania?

From CNN:

TUCSON, Arizona (AP) -- The chief organizer of the Minuteman Project, which attracted hundreds of volunteers to watch for illegal immigrants and smugglers along the Mexican border, said Monday he's leaving his post early.

Jim Gilchrist said the watch project has been a success and will continue through the end of the month as planned, but under a different name.

"The operation is continuing, but it's not under the Minuteman Project," Gilchrist said. "There's nothing for us to do here. We're bored to death. But people are staying here."

A Pope of Warmth, Compassion, Enlightenment and Longevity?

Let's see: going on 79 years old, former Hitler Youth Movement member, and called "the Enforcer". Apparently, this Pope has been fallible in the past.

As someone with ties to the church, I am deeply saddened.

How nice it would have been to see a Pope of color (since the overwhelming number of Catholics in the world are people of color themselves), one with a kinder heart rather than a bigger PR vehicle, one not so entrenched in all the gold and pomp of the Vatican but more knowledgeable of life as lived by real Catholics, perhaps even one who wasn't even a cardinal (the Catholic Church has in its histories Popes who were neither cardinal nor priest) and didn't have a record of thinking the only problem with the American church abuse scandal was that the parishioners got pissy about it.

But people of course have the right to argue for their limitations and to claim that a man most fallible is instead infallible. And they won't bring a single person into the Church with him either.

Personally, I think Catholics deserved better. Even among the listed contenders, I feel there were better choices. And I don't think a group of cardinals most of whom were too old to know life today is the best selection body. And the ultimate irony: this man probably will not sit long as Pope. Sure, the age 78 of today isn't the age 78 of even 30 years ago, but cardinals tend to live a rarified life of more fine dining than exercise, more contact with gold iconery than parishioners.