I’m having one of those mornings that the news seems to be a lot of same old, same old, and the topics being discussed on the other blogs are pretty much what they’ve been talking about for the past several days — whether the “tea party” movement will last and how Democrats are screwing the pooch. And I don’t want to write about any of it.
Kittens. I want kittens.
What’s on your mind?
Sorry, maha, the kittie didn’t cut it….
So, what’s on my mind?
How ungodly sick I am at the thought of the newer brand of lunatics and morons staged to regain power in this country. The old bunch was bad enough, but they’re tame compared to the newer kids on the block. It was bad enough dealing with people so stupid they’d eat their own boogers, now we’re dealing with a group that ate their own brains.
The Tebaggers:
Newer! Lunaticier!! Moroniker!!!
I was hoping to get up to the Rainbow River this week, a beautiful clear water river, full of fish, a constant 72 degrees. It’s a great dive site, you don’t have to worry about the ‘gators if you stay away from the dense aquatic plant growth. That place really gets my head clear, especially mid week. I just put a scuba tank in the kayak, use a 50’ hose to my band mask, and swim ahead of the kayak down river.I bring some stale bread or crackers to feed the fish, and occasionally fan the sand for fossils. My girls get bored after about an hour, so I’d rather they go shopping, and I go alone.
Back to Gulag’s thought, I have an old friend who likes the Tea Party.
He says we need to throw ALL politicians out.
I told him that would be like throwing every actor out of Hollywood. Some are idiotic self centered creeps, some are no talent slobs who are there because of who they know, and some are really talented good people.
To throw them all out is not the solution.
I think dissent can be a good thing, but the partisan hatred has gone off the cliff.
I’m begining to think there is a divide and conquor situation going on, and the loosers will be the masses, the winners will be the coporate masters and political lap dogs.
The economy will not get better until people start spending, the news is all about doom and gloom, which causes people and business to pull back.
This is like a beach full of people who won’t go into the water because of sharks, real or imagined.
The right continuously rails against the feds, but loves anything military.Maybe Sarah will give birth to another combat soldier, that seems to make her happy.
Until the war spending is reeled in, the money will continue to flow out, and things will worsen.
Obama’s attempt to broker peace in Israel is a waste of time.A dog and pony show.
Israel will continue to build “settlements”, “outposts”, “summer camps”, and “picnics” (or what ever else they want to call land stealing) until someone with balls shuts them down, which won’t happen this century. If I were the president, I’d inform Bibi that no more money will head his way unless the game stops.
I think its time to bathe the cats………..
Nasty job. Makes your tongue furry.
Oh that did it for me; indeed, we all need to see something heart-warming and adorable every day.
I know the rest of my day is going to be an endless stream of frustrating details showing me how horrible everything is. But for this one moment, when fewer and fewer folks are posting kitty-cat pics on Friday, I got to smile.
Thank You.
*pssst*
i know where the lies start…
i know, because the federal gummint tried to get me to lie…
it was probably a felony, or sumpin’…
no big deal…
but they really wanted me to lie to make life easier for them (and me)…
it was while working for the census (and nonsense) bureau…
(what a clusterfuck *that* was; thought i would hate interviewing people, that turned to be the BEST part of the job; dealing with the census bureaucracy was the most awful aspect of the job)
i was a lowly field enumerator, but was called in unexpectedly to work in the office prepping binders; they called at 3pm to work that day! i went on a night shift from 10pm-8am (um, except we weren’t allowed to have overtime)… i got in ‘trouble’ for two things: 1. i (voluntarily) worked longer than the 5 hour maximum without a break (TRYING to finish up binders in one area before i left them in the lurch); 2. i forgot the hours were to be split over two days/timesheets, and this showed working more than 8 hours in a shift… das ist verboten!
long story short: various office droids called, and they were *trying* to get me to lie without telling me i should lie… (i might point out, our training, our manuals, our oath, and everything they told regarding the idea of falsifying timesheets was drummed into us repeatedly, that it was a felony, blah blah blah…) they just wanted me to change the damn timesheets so that it didn’t reflect the various ‘bad’ things… (which could not be practically avoided, under the circumstances…)
now, i -being an earnest and honest little droid- did not catch on about what they wanted me to do until after the calls, and so i said to just let the timesheets go as they were, since they accurately reflected the time i worked… (in spite of their repeated ‘are you sure?s’)
of course, in amerika, honesty is NOT the best policy, and i got dinged with a letter of notice that i was not in compliance, blah blah blah… and got screwed out a couple hours pay…
…and another notice for the other ‘infraction’, blah blah blah…
the thanks i get for going above and beyond the call of duty to bail them out of a jam…
fucking assholes…
i’m a believer in gummint being absolutely necessary, and i’m not naive enough to think large bureaucracies (whether private or public) don’t have inherent problems; but this whole experience with the census bureau was disgusting enough that i might help grover drown that baby…
art guerrilla
aka ann archy
[email protected]
eof
sono neko wa totemo kawaii desu.
I’m with you, maha. Goebbels who perfected the ‘Big Lie’ technique of propaganda based the technique on the principle that a lie, if audacious enough and repeated enough times, will be believed by the masses. Repetition is understandable, but audacious is not. (And we can’t forget that Goebbels proved the principle in spades.)
Maybe that’s why the propaganda of the Democrats continues to fall flat – not audacious enough? Sounds ridiculous but hey, it’s working for the rabid Right.
Mmmm, kittehs.
“If cats ruled the world…”
All dogs would be deported to the moon. Vacuum cleaners would be illegal. The global anthem would be the sound of an electric can opener. I love cats, but….
It’s a slow afternoon; I’m going to meditate on this a bit more. I’ll get back to you.
Video of Chris Hedges giving a speech at the Veterans of Peace convention. It’s like a banquet for your ears and mind.
um, there is a reason there is NO old saying:
‘all cats go to heaven’
cats are okay, but they don’t make a pack…
art guerrilla
aka ann archy
eof
Short audio of FDR campaigning in 1936. “They [the economic royalists] are unanimous in their hatred of me, and I welcome their hatred!”
Major cat lover here but I worry about the domestic kittens in that new family. Bobcats are scrumptious, beautiful, desirable — so much so I nearly got badly bitten once in a close encounter. Since then I’ve loved them in videos and in photos but am wary but wondering how that shy little tuxedo kitten in back is going to handle her(?) new step-siblings as they move towards 6-7 weeks and pow!/bam!/bash!
I put new “Nygut” strings on my old banjo, it makes a pretty good frailer. The horses out on the lawn so I can watch them graze and filled the hummingbird feeder. I’ll put on my “luthier’s tuxedo” and heat up some hide glue to do a bit more work on one of my old parlor guitars in the middle of a neck reset. Life is pretty good after all.
Here’s some young people who should give you a little hope. They are a lot better than the bands I was in. I think I’ll buy their CD.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbcqGjeNz7w
If the link isn’t live they’re the “Carolina Chocolate Drops” this is a preview of their CD
Ooo, loved the Chocolate Drops. Reminded me of my all-time favorite NYC subway musicians, the Ebony Hillbillies.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpnQsOJpzb4
You might notice the Hillbillies play the real old-time string band music, not bluegrass. I love bluegrass, but being an Ozark Mountain girl and all, there’s something about the old-time stuff that is a balm to my soul, so to speak. I remember the first time I heard the Hillbillies’ music, I heard it from a distance and had to follow the sound and see who was playing; I couldn’t believe I was hearing what I was hearing in the New York City subway system. But there they were. And they live in Brooklyn.
I love New York.
Update: Here’s a feature story about them:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPhd0ym7I3c&feature=related
If you like old-time music, I recommend their CD “Sabrina’s Holiday.” I haven’t heard their other CD, but I bet it’s good too.
Dealing with “the best healthcare system in the world” here. Was told my child would need to go to a research place for genetic testing “since it is expensive and insurance companies don’t like to pay for it”.
Loved the kitten story. Looks like bobcats 3, domestics 0, though!
The only things better than cats are kittens. Cool.
Regarding the Republicans and their wish to reduce the deficit, how about we start talking about their salaries. They vote themselves raises in the dead of night so we won’t know early enough to complain. Since the Republicans really aren’t earning their salary by voting no on everything, I think we need to dock them some of that salary. If they shut the government down to save money, they should shut themselves down; and, live like all other government employee without their salaries. I was one of the Civil Service employees who was on furlough during the shutdown in 1995. It was not fun. Additionally, I was not able to apply for unemployment benefits because I was not technically unemployed. In the end, when they sent us back to work, they also voted to pay us for the whole time on furlough. Thus, they actually paid us for not working. That doesn’t sound much like people who care about the deficits and want to sincerely find solutions to these problems.
KAGERATO,
Meccaleka hi, mecca hiney ho.
-peewee herman
Did you see the dancing dog, yet? Seriously good. For those of us who prefer dogs (hey, I like cats, too, but have issues with litter boxes.).
Anyhoo, tried to make rolls today. My kitchen looks like something out of I Love Lucy, which my mom did NOT let me watch because it was awful (nor All in The Family) but we did anyway, and then found out that my yeast is dead. What a waste of money…
Still, it smelled lovely while it baked!
Gort, klaatu barada nikto!
The Drops are great! I’ve seen them three times in person (especially at Merlefest) and they just get better. Several of their performances are on YouTube. Their work is based on old-time black string band music from the piedmont of NC. BTW, all three members have their own individual musical efforts going on, too.
The kittens are fine, but with 4 rescue cats in the house, I am a hard sell. I prefer grown cats.
On to the main topic (or lack thereof today): The news cycle and the rise of 24x7x365 “news” talk has diluted the significance of both content and commentary. When you have that big a news hole to fill, literally anything becomes a newsworthy topic/approach. And the mindless repetition! Gaaaah!
One question: Why are the Republicans so good at sticking to their talking points in the face of all facts to the contrary, as opposed to the Democratic message failure?
s – I wish I had some advice as it sounds similar to my brother and sister-in-law’s experiences when my nephew (born with spina bifida) was small. They struggled financially for so many years; the kid’s grown up now and in college, and my sister-in-law bravely “WOOTed” on her Facebook page when the healthcare reform bill passed (and, surprisingly, nobody flamed her).
Some research hospitals really are doing the leading-edge therapies and treatments; but even with “reform” there’s so damn much “insurance doesn’t want to pay for.” Sometimes there are private foundations that can assist when costly care is needed. For my family in 1990, there weren’t today’s vast Internet conversations among people with a similar need; perhaps that could be another advantage for you?
I’m sorry, I’m afraid that’s not very useful. I hope things work out for you and your child.
I finally did it. Listening to the Public Radio station while driving in the car, as usual. It was announced that the next program was devoted to a “discussion” between Republicans about all things wrong with the Obama administration /Democrats, and Democrats who say they inherited a mess that will take a long time to straighten out. I turned to a classical music station.
Gosh I am glad to hear people like the drops and thanks for the suggestion on other groups, I will investigate posthaste, er, with due dispatch, after the fleamarket this afternoon.
Regarding NPR: It’s the only radio I care to listen to. But, what a disappointment it has been over the last few years. During the Bush years it was wall to wall Republicans and RW think tanks. After the election, countless articles about the “future of the Republican Party” seguing into more political horserace articles. And to think this is the BEST of radio news.
What a service to the country it might have been to give the Democrats their due and explain the planned course of action and the rationale behind it. It would have been nice to dispel misinformation and return to objective reporting.
When I hear that a majority of people are now against HCR and the “Ground Zero Mosque” I have to reflect that the opinions of the majority are questionable when they are based upon the distortion of reality. When they think of HCR, they think “death panels”. The Islamic center becomes Hagia Sophia built directly on the site of WTC. The The essence of democracy has been corrupted. Totalitarians have used the failure of democracy as a premise for dictatorship.
I still recommend Adam Curtis’ documentary, “Century of the Self” available on youtube. As I have said before. it really is inconsequential whether something is true or not. Lies can be crafted to push the right psychological buttons and root themselves in the psyche of most people. Even if they later find that they were lied to, the psychological connection has been made in the subconscious. No dose of logic can dislodge it.
On the bright side I was thinking about Hillel the Elder and I remember a Rabbi discussing his influence on his own thought. “First I have to find the God’s image in myself, and they in other people. A world in which we all recognized the image of God in each other would be peaceful, just and compassionate.”
Well my wife’s blasted horse broke down the fence again. I better tend to the real world.
Thanks for the “Ebony Hillbillies”. I tend to like “old timey” better than bluegrass if only because bluegrass is a bit “overdriven” for my mature metabolism. It kind of wears me out. Long, long ago, I was heavily into Doc Watson, old timey, with bluegrass influences. I think a lot of the appeal was that it was just fun to play fast.
As ar as banjo is concerned, I like the frailing/clawhammer style a lot better than picking. Mary Z. Cox plays a relatively melodic clawhammer style, I like her approach.
As for fiddle, “Cape Breton” like Natalie McMasters comes to mind. There is also a young woman name Becky Tracy, who played with a band called “Nightingale”. She plays a straight forward, clear melody line and is excellent if you are learning the fiddle. I think their CD’s are only available buying directly from the band.
Sorry, I guess I’m being a little self-indulgent here. I had to put in a plug for some musician’s who deserve a bit more recognition.
JoanR, I am shocked to hear of your brother’s family experience. How could they think they should not cover spina bifida?! She will be getting good testing. I am thankful for that, but what irks me is that WITH coverage, the insurance companies don’t cover. Insurance companies try to shrug off cerebral palsy too.
s – “pre-existing condition,” e.g. “born that way.”