Pepper Spay

I couldn't let this Cat Blog Friday pass without a mention about our kitty Pepper who, as you can see by her shaved abdomen, was spayed yesterday. She is recuperating nicely.

PETA-luma Loonies

From the San Francisco Chronicle comes this weird story about rat lovers who were furious Wednesday that a Petaluma animal shelter had euthanized about 1,000 of the rodents taken last week from a man who had been hoarding the creatures inside his home.

I don't know which I find more disturbing... the rat hoarder or the rat mourners?

Either way, the funniest comment made about the euthanized rats was that this meant 1,000 less votes for Diane Feinstein...

... I can hear Di-Fei now, "Where's Willard when you need him?" ;-)

Cat Blog Friday

For this Cat Blog Friday...



...a cat of a different kind shown here digging up my backyard this week.

Happy Friday, everybody!

Dingo Urine

Researchers at Curtin University have been startled by the effectiveness of urine from dingos, Australia's wild dogs in scaring off kangaroos.

Michael Parson, of Curtin University, added, "When we presented tame kangaroos with coyote urine, they became interested in the new smell, but when presented with the dingo urine they were startled and fled."

Yikes, I don't blame those kangaroos. With the teeth on those dingos, I'm curious as to how they gather the urine specimens?

Not to be outdone, below is a photo of my dog Dax posing as a wild dingo...




[The BLOG note: photo credit to my daughter Jennifer]

Dell Fire

Oh, the humanity!

The case of the exploding Dell laptop heats up here with Dell's announcement that it has captured the errant laptop and is trying to figure out what caused it to explode into flames.

The company said it was too early to draw any conclusions, but then drew the conclusion that it didn't appear to be related the the company's December 2005 battery recall due to overheating issues.

Dude, I'm so glad I didn't get a Dell...

Terror Aid

Saw this on Lucianne.com and it was too good. I just had to pass it along.

Ultimate Trek

The Ultimate Star Trek Collection is available from Amazon here starting at $2300.

The perfect gift for the Trekker in your life *hint* *hint*

Just think of it ...every episode from every show and every movie...

But I bet they don't have this


[The BLOG note: Kirk vs Picard clip courtesy of Big Orange Michael and via MCF ]

Murtha The Mouth

Last week, Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa) told Tim Russert on Meet The Press here
that our troops in Iraq should be redeployed to Okinawa. Murtha says we can redeploy there almost instantly.

Okinawa?

A Pentagon spokesman said, "it would take ''under a month'' to prepare and send a 4,500-man Marine Expeditionary Force 6,000 nautical miles from Okinawa to Bahrain and then 600 more miles to Baghdad."

According to the Sun Sentinel here , this weekend Murtha said that the American presence in Iraq is more dangerous to world peace than nuclear threats from North Korea or Iran.

Is this senile dementia or just plain stupid?

Cat Blog Friday

For today's Cat Blog Friday...

Just be happy you're not a mouse with a cat audience.

Happy Friday, everybody!

Terror Times

From The New York Sun comes this article about the latest treachery on the part of The New York Times.

The Times report, which appears in today's editions, details the federal government's use of subpoenas to gather large troves of data from a Belgium-based consortium that handles international bank transfers, the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, known as Swift.

They printed the story despite requests by Bush administration officials for this to be kept confidential.

I don't think this is essential knowledge. We didn't need to know this or any other tactic that our government is using to fight terrorism.

Is the N.Y. Times on our side in the global war on terror?

Cube

According to this , the Rubik's cube is making a comeback.

Gosh, I never thought it was out of style...

Pluto Moons

This photo taken by the Hubble Space telescope and released by NASA shows the planet Pluto, center, with its two newly named moons, from far right, Hydra and Nix, respectively. Pluto's other moon, Charon, is seen closest to Pluto.

So much for the names Xena and Gabrielle.

Weebles Wobble

According to this from The Washington Times, "the Senate is expected to spend at least five hours today debating two competing Democratic proposals to start pulling U.S. combat troops out of Iraq."

Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) and Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI) have sponsored an amendment that calls for cutting and running from Iraq to begin by Dec. 31, 2006.

Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) and Russ Feingold (D-WI) have a binding amendment calling for all combat troops cut and run from Iraq by July 1, 2007.

Wasn't a similar measure offered last week overwhelmingly defeated in the Senate? Enough time and money has already been wasted on these idiotic proposals.

The Weebles just don't get it...

America doesn't cut and run.

Pom Flower

Yes, I'm posting a gratuitous dog photo for the cat haters out there... you know who you are!

This cute little pomeranian reminds me of my dog-niece, Lulu.

Shields Up!

From Reuters comes this story about how the USA moved its ground-based interceptor missile defense system from test mode to operational amid concerns over an expected North Korean missile launch today.

Can Kim Jong "Mentally" Il really be so crazy as to tangle with the U.S.?

Digital Interference

Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have completed a prototype device that can block digital-camera function in a given area. Commercial versions of the technology could be used to stymie espionage photography or video copying.

Read about it here , but basically it works by flashing a thin beam of visible white light directly at the camera's image sensor and overwhelming the target camera with light and rendering recorded video unusable.

Cool.

Cat Meatball?

From Reuters comes this story about Chinese animal rights protesters swarming into a restaurant serving cat meat in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen and forced it to shut its doors.

The 40+ demonstrators -- holding banners reading "cats and dogs are friends of human beings" -- entered the Fangji Cat Meatball restaurant and demanded the owner free any live cats on the premises. There weren't any, but the owner vowed to stop selling cat meat despite it being a Chinese tradition.

And Chinese kitties everywhere breathed a meow of relief.

World Cup Fever

Don't know where in Europe this amazing billboard was erected, but it sure is illustrative of World Cup fever.


[The BLOG note: photo credit to www.andrewsblog.net]

Troll Speak

Natalie Maines, the vocal vocalist of the Dixie Chicks is at it again. She tells all she knows to the UK Telegraph here .

Here is an excerpt I found particularly disturbing...

"The entire country may disagree with me, but I don't understand the necessity for patriotism," Maines resumes, through gritted teeth. "Why do you have to be a patriot? About what? This land is our land? Why? You can like where you live and like your life, but as for loving the whole country… I don't see why people care about patriotism."

That tells me all I need to know about this little troll. She just doesn't get America.


[The BLOG note: photo credit to politicalhumor.about.com ]

Cat Blog Friday

For this Cat Blog Friday...

Our cat Pepper celebrates the upcoming weekend...

Remember, moderation in all things.

Happy Friday, everybody.

Head Loss

From Reuters comes this news that one of England's most prestigious art galleries put a block of slate on display, topped by a small piece of wood, in the mistaken belief it was a work of art.

The Royal Academy included the chunk of stone and the small bone-shaped wooden stick in its summer exhibition in London. The sculpture itself -- of a human head -- was nowhere to be found.

Well, lah dee dah!

This just goes to show you that not even art experts know art.

Google Boondoggle

Google Inc. co-founder Sergey Brin acknowledged recently here that the Internet company has compromised its principles by accommodating Chinese censorship demands.

Brin adds that Google is wrestling to make the deal work before deciding whether to reverse course. OK, we'll see how that goes.

BTW did you notice that Google didn't do a design for Memorial Day or for Flag Day?

I think a little show of patriotism for the country that made you multi-billionaires would be nice, don't you?

Chicom Quints?

From the AP comes this amazing photo of a chinese woman, Qiao Yubo, who is pregnant with at least five babies, as she walks with her husband in China's northeast Jilin province. Qiao, who is 1.67-meters tall, has a waistline measurement of 1.75 meters, five months into her pregnancy.

This certainly throws a monkey wrench into China's one child rule. I wonder how the government will handle this?

Flag Day

Happy Flag Day.

TIME Out

From Mary Katherine Hall comes this excellent article Setting The Record Straight On Haditha which lists the Top 3 things to remember about Haditha that the press would like you to forget.

This is an eyeopener for everyone who still counts on the MSM for their news because, when it comes to America and the U.S. military, they are incapable of giving us the benefit of the doubt until the facts become known.

Hall closes with this paragraph, "The mainstream media spent a couple of weeks throwing around the "cold blood" and "maybe murder" stories. Now that they're backtracking, it's our job to make sure new corrections and less damning facts don't get lost in the corner of page two".

I know I'll watch for these corrections... and watch and watch...

Rain, Rain, Go Away

And so another Hurricane season begins...

It's been raining since ~4 a.m. and there looks like there is no end in sight until tomorrow. We needed rain. The Florida aquifer is filling up as I type this which is the only good thing I can think about Tropical Storm Alberto.

Now, go away!

Twelve Years

Hard to believe it's been 12 years since Simpson savagely murdered Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman.

A chronology of the whole sordid mess can be found here .

Unfortunately you won't find the question I wanted the police to ask Simpson, namely how, when you were told on the phone that your ex-wife had been murdered, you knew which ex-wife without being given her name?

Attack By Chihuahua

You can't make up this stuff. From Yahoo News comes this story about a Missouri woman was has been arrested for breaking into a dog breeder's home and beating her repeatedly over the head with a dead Chihuahua.

What a world.

OK, this photo isn't the puppy in the story, but it's the best darned Chihuahua photo I could find ;-)

Fecesgram

From Breitbart.com comes this story about a Democratic activist who left an envelope stuffed with dog feces at the office of Republican U.S. Rep. Marilyn Musgrave's Colorado office.

The article continues, "Musgrave spokesman Shaun Kenney said someone stuffed the envelope through the mail slot in the door on May 31 and then sped away in a car. Kenney said most of the preprinted return address was blacked out, but staffers used the nine-digit ZIP code to trace it to Kathleen Ensz, a Weld County Democratic volunteer."

The spokesman for Musgrave's likely Democratic opponent assures us that Kathleen Ensz [the vice chairwoman of a state Senate district committee for the county Democratic Party] is not associated with their campaign.

Yeah right. So much for tolerance and brains!

Cat Blog Friday

For this Cat Blog Friday...

...a happy cat jumps for joy at yesterday's news from Baquba.

Happy Friday everbody!

Zarqawi Is Toast

Ding dong Zarqawi's dead...

...most certifiably.

Froggy Salad

From Yahoo News comes
this story about a woman eating at a Burger King restaurant in the Netherlands who found a live frog in her salad.

Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad quoted the customer, identified as 23-year-old Astrid Roek, as saying "it was a big black thing, a frog or a toad."

Well at least it didn't happen in Florida.

6-6-6

Am I superstitious about today's date? No, it's bad luck to be superstitious ;-)

See you tomorrow!


[The BLOG note: photo credit to SacredCowBurgers.com]

Global Brainwashing

From the DenverPost.com comes this illuminating article entitled
"Chill out over global warming" where Bill Gray of the Colorado State University, perhaps the world's foremost hurricane expert, discusses the bad science surrounding the global warming "hoax" that has been perpetuated on the American public.

The way I see it is this. Science should strive for apolitical results and should never be bent to fit a political agenda. Dr. Gray agrees with me.

Cat Blog Friday

This is Marine digital camo...



And this is Kinky, my Marine digital camo cat...



Happy Friday, everybody!

Testing 1 2 3

Blogger is acting up again...

Good Bye Mr. Coffee

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Carlos Sanchez, 71, who played the character Juan Valdez, the face of the National Federation of Coffee Growers of Colombia for 37 years, announced his retirement yesterday.

I have an idea for the new spokesperson...

Before And After

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