The trouble with a kitten is THAT Eventually it becomes a CAT. - Ogden Nash

The kitten is no longer afraid of me and in fact cannot keep off of me.  On my lap, biting my feet, crawling over my shoulders and wanting to eat dinner with me – not eating her Fancy Feast in tandem with me eating my rice and pork chop but actually eating  off my plate.  She got the nerve to venture outside Monday, then didn’t come back which freaked me out but now she doesn’t seem interested in going out again.  She is not afraid of the Cooper dog; she wants to play with him which is not on his to do list. Beatrice, who does want to play with her, she is terrified of.  The kitten has no name so I am open to suggestions.

Today's Post Cribbed from Rising Hegemon

The motherfucking windy-fucking-fucking-city!

It appears that we are about to hear Rahm Emanuel is about to announce his departure as White House Chief of Smack. I guess he's leaving so he can spend more time cursing out his family.

Chuck Toddler has his diapers in a bunch over Colbert's testimony as today's faux indignation orgy continue

I don't know who could be worse, but expect Obama will find someone:

Summers Said to Be Expected to Leave White House After Election

McCain: We shouldn't decide on DADT until we consider the opinion of the troops

Should we then ask their opinion on where and if to go to war?
And while I'm at it, has anyone checked Harry Reid for a pulse lately?

Eight Spotted Skimmer

Trip to Bolan Lake

One truck.  Six adults, three dogs, one paddle boat, picnic basket, ice chest and assorted backpacks. Through No Monument Alley, past the Weeping Spruces and up the OMG road.  Everyone took a turn with the paddle boat but only Casey and Felice actually went swimming.  A great afternoon.

Sunday Morning Suckfest

Candy Crowley question re the economy includes the phrase “especially now that the country is worried about the deficit.”  Listen Candy – the country is NOT worried about the deficit.  That is a Republican/Tea Party meme which the media has run with because it is simplistic and because they are tools.  That includes you dumb ass.

After wasting several hours with two technicians running me through hoops and regaling me with obscure technical jargon I am finally back on line.  No thanks to the technos (their final advice was to call McAfee for an adjustment to my firewall settings) but because Sum Gai at the provider office smelled a rat and advised me he was sending out someone to check my phone.  About an hour later (this is in Happy Camp, mind you) the Phone Gai shows up, replaces my modem and voila!  Once again it is the guy in the truck who saves the day. 

Further bonus -- the warranty on my modem was within 1 day of expiring.   

Ken, you are such a doll!

The MSM is Shocked! Shocked! that Ken Mehlman is gay.  The rest of us knew this back in 2004.

Sounds more than qualified to me.

Wyclef Jean’s candidacy for Haiti’s presidency ends before beginning

But critics say that Jean's track record at helping Haiti has been spotty at best.

US actor Sean Penn, who runs a 55,000-person tent camp for the homeless in Haiti, and others have accused Jean of misusing hundreds of thousands of dollars he raised after the earthquake for a charity he ran.

"He has been virtually silent for those of us in Haiti; he has been a non-presence," Penn told CNN in an interview earlier this month.

(Rawstory, 8/21/2010)

Robert Fisk: US troops say goodbye to Iraq

Torture. Corruption. Civil war. America has certainly left its mark

Having botched yet another baking project, I have decided to spend the day as a recluse and live vicariously through Kay Scarpetta.

Do The Right Thing! (That would be YOU, not US....)

U.S. Ducks As Cluster Bomb Ban Takes Effect

• By Spencer Ackerman  
• July 29, 2010  |  
• 12:26 pm  |  
• Categories: Weapons and Ammo

Read More http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/07/u-s-ducks-as-cluster-bomb-ban-takes-effect/#ixzz0vAx0CGRv
Excerpt:
More than 30 countries have ratified the Convention on Cluster Munitions — the threshold for it entering into force — and over 100 have signed it since 2008. Holdouts include Russia, Israel and the United States. All three of those countries have used cluster bombs in the past decade: Russia during its conflict with Georgia in 2008 (Georgia also used cluster munitions against Russia); Israel during its conflict with Hezbollah in 2006 (Hezbollah also used cluster munitions against Israel); and the U.S. during the initial phases of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. (Neither the Taliban nor Saddam used cluster bombs against U.S. troops.)

There are a variety of cluster bombs, but they generically work like this: the munitions spray out smaller bombs across a given target, so you can cover a wide area and take out enemy vehicles, weapons, and, of course, fighters with a single, relatively small burst. Some versions, like the Wind Corrected Munition Dispenser, equip the bomblets with tech to control their trajectory, making them more like smart bomblets.

The case against their use is well known: cluster sub-munitions are, in effect, the world’s deadliest duds. The bomblets have a failure rate of up to ten percent by some estimates — and can act as unexploded ordnance, going off in civilian areas after a battle has concluded, similar to landmines. The Cluster Munition Coalition, a group opposed to the weapons, estimates that 60 percent of cluster-bomb casualties are injured “while undertaking their normal activities.”

Entire Article Here.

Read More http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/07/u-s-ducks-as-cluster-bomb-ban-takes-effect/#ixzz0vAxhNiHW

Ms. Sherrod

The date of the NAACP speech was March 17th of this year.  Aside from the obvious question of why she was giving a speech on St. Paddy's day instead of drinking Guiness like a real American, it also raises the issue of how a butchering of such a recent speech could have passed for so long -- it isn't as if half the audience is now dead or senile.

Anyway, as much as I villify the administration for being rash and the media for being gullible, the real asshole-with-criminal-intent is Breitbart who will probably do prison time about the same year as Dick Cheney.

Monkey Smuggler Caught at Airport

Points for creativity? A Mexican man has been arrested after authorities
 at Mexico City's international airport discovered 18 titi monkeys stuffed
 into socks and tied around his waist. Roberto Sol Cabrera was returning 
from Lima, Peru, and had been trying to smuggle in the tiny primates by
 wearing them slung on a belt under his clothing—“to protect them from
 X-rays." Two of the monkeys were dead when they were confiscated. 
Many species of titi monkeys are on the Convention on International 
Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora's endangered
 list, and can be sold for around $1,550 in Mexico.

I originally decided to post this because I thought 
it was funny.  But then I thought -- this isn't really funny 
at all.  Have this horrible feeling I'm getting soft...

Headers I Never Expected To See...

APA warns shrinks not to participate in torture

Different Pres, same old shit...$40 Billion to spy on -- YOU!

 "Perfect Citizen is Big Brother."
From a Raytheon  employee in an anonymous email.  Raytheon is developing a "monitoring" system for the NSA, to be used inside the United States:

Some officials familiar with Perfect Citizen see it "as an intrusion by the NSA into domestic affairs, while others say it is an important program to combat an emerging security threat that only the NSA is equipped to provide," the Journal states.

The program is reportedly being funded under the Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative, a program launched by the Bush administration in January, 2008, and continued under the Obama administration. The initiative is budgeted to cost $40 billion over several years.
Here...

The title for Worst Goldberg is in serious doubt From TBogg

By: Jay B. Tuesday June 29, 2010 4:28 pm
(excerpt)  

Still, I have standards. And because I’m a serious journalmalist guy, I asked some respected Middle East scholars about Jeffrey Goldberg, specifically his observation that:

I have noticed, by people with limited experience in the Middle East (Their lack of experience causes them to reach the naive conclusion that an invasion of Iraq will cause America to be loathed in the Middle East, rather than respected)

One unnamed academic replied: “This is a serious quote?”
Another who requested not to be named said, “Why does this Goldberg [fellow] think Arabs respect people who bomb their country, regardless of the reason — and here the reason was clearly specious? Does he think that Israel has won the respect of the Arab people in general? It’s an observation of a sociopath.”

Read the entire post here.

TUESDAY, JUL 6, 2010 16:07 ET

Rules of America's rule of law

I didn't know this was illegal

Two Chicago Men Intentionally Strike Bicyclists For Fun and Receive Probation for Aggravated Battery

One of those evenings when the light just seems to glow and glow.  I feel so happy here and so at peace.

Why I No Longer Listen To Obama -- who talks a LOT by the way.

Captain Steven Hiller: You really think you can do all that bullshit you just said?
Obama? Sadly, no.
(Link is to Will Smith, character Hiller, quotes from Independence Day, one of my fave kitsch movies along with Mars Attacks!  and Congo.)

The Small People Vote:

Tony  (“I want my life back”) Hayward 
Solipsistic Asshole of the Week Award to:  

Carl-Henric Svanberg

It's Bloom's Day -- take a walk, drink a pint. Kidney breakfast optional.

Harsh. As well it should be....via Smirking Chimp

The Do-Nothing 44th President

by David Michael Green | June 12, 2010 - 1:14pm

I like seeing these guys...

Bullocks Oriole

From Spiegel Online

"Daniel Ellsberg, legendary leaker of the "Pentagon Papers" in 1971, still has a bone to pick with the White House. In an interview with SPIEGEL ONLINE, the 79-year-old peace activist accuses President Obama of betraying his election promises -- in Iraq, in Afghanistan and on civil liberties."

We miss our mom on her birthday -- and every other day.

From "Informed Comment" - Juan Cole 6/3/2010

The Hypocrisy of Netanyahu

Oil makes us crazy...

Ok -- so BP fails to use proper precautions and safety features and the well blows.  There is no working automatic shut-off mechanism. Then they pour on a shitload of toxic dispersal agents.  Then they attempt various methods of stopping the flow, none of which work and some of which make it worse (though they do have rather cute names).  Now they want to nuke the damn thing.  What could possibly go wrong?

Small Town Blues

American cage fighter 'rips out still-beating heart of training partner after fearing he was possessed by the devil'

When I saw this header, I wondered where in the world do they still do this stuff?  
Answer:  Klamath, CA

Weak....

Obama Panel to Study Oil Spill. Now don't you feel better?

This is why I don't try to analyze my dreams:

Unidentified person (offering something):  (unintelligible)

Karen:   Gifty-e you! Go to Hell!
I have no idea what this means -- or why I dream in odd typefaces.

Raining most of the day -- not hard, but still....Planning on going to Grant's Pass tomorrow- perhaps with all three cartoon dogs.  If the road over to the Pass is not open yet, Plan B is to go to Yreka.  If dog #3 decides it doesn't like riding in trucks with humans, there is no Plan B.  Dog's don't get a vote.

Am I the only one who thinks that all BP has done so far is sink a pipe, enabling them to siphon off just enough oil that they can keep making money?  Despite their show of boxes and top hats, these greedy fuckers clearly have no idea how to deal with the deadly torrent of oil unleashed in their sick addiction to money.  I wonder if they even care. BP should not be in charge of this operation.  Unfortunately, I don’t trust our government to do better - it was their lack of attention, at best, and criminal pandering to the money base at worst that allowed this to happen.

Sometimes I don’t think this country can do anything at all.  Between kickbacks and politics it is never anymore about what it IS – but how it can be used.  If you think I am too cynical, go visit  the site in New York where the towers used to be.  How much money has been spent so far to accomplish zero?

And now there is a push to re-think nuclear power plants.  With whom in charge?

Matt Taibbi on Jokes and The Joker

http://trueslant.com/matttaibbi/2010/05/15/i-sarah-palin-goes-redneck/

I hate to waste golf balls....

How about we plug that hole with corporate executives and politicians?

Lazuli Buntings at my feeder.  Squabbling with the Black Headed Grosbeaks. 

Now that She Has Been Named

The clowns are lining up at the gate.  First out, Ed Whelan:

Kagan’s record … manages to replicate the primary supposed defect of the judicial monastery—isolation from the real-world lives of ordinary Americans… 

                   (As opposed to Roberts, a true man of the people,)

Kagan … is such a product of New York City that she did not learn to drive until her late 20s. According to her friend John Q. Barrett, a law professor at St. John's University, it is a skill she has not yet mastered.

          (Everyone knows that the only Americans who do not drive are gay men from New York.  And me.)

 Prediction: “Isolation from the real-world lives of ordinary Americans” will be a major meme for months. 

To come:

 “The most left-wing candidate ever named.”

“Has shown she values the rights of terrorists more than the lives of Americans.”

“Gay”  “Hates men”  “Hates children”   
For a roundup of clown comments:

http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/right-wing-responses-kagan-scotus

Salazar -- another crappy Obama appointee. Guess he decided to keep the change.

From Wikepedia:

On May 23, 2005, Salazar was among the Gang of 14 moderate senators to forge a compromise on the Democrats' use of the filibuster against judicial appointments, thus blocking the Republican leadership's attempt to implement the so-called "nuclear option". Under the agreement, the Democrats would retain the power to filibuster a Bush judicial nominee only in an "extraordinary circumstance", and the three most conservative Bushappellate court nominees (Janice Rogers Brown, Priscilla Owen and William Pryor) would receive a vote by the full Senate. Salazar has skirmished with Focus on the Family, a Colorado-based conservative Christian group of national stature, over his stance on judicial nominees.

In 2005, Salazar voted against increasing fuel-efficiency standards (CAFE) for cars and trucks, a vote that the League of Conservation Voters notes is anti-environment. In the same year, Salazar voted against an amendment to repeal tax breaks for ExxonMobil and other major petroleum companies.^[6]

In August 2006, Ken Salazar supported fellow Democratic Senator Joe Lieberman in his primary race againstNed Lamont in Connecticut. Lamont, running primarily as an anti-war candidate, won the primary. Salazar's continued support of Lieberman, who successfully ran as an independent against Lamont, has rankled the anti-war wing of the Democratic Party.

In 2006, Salazar voted to end protections that limit offshore oil drilling in Florida's Gulf Coast.^[7]

In 2007, Salazar was one of only a handful of Democrats to vote against a bill that would require the United States Army Corps of Engineers to consider global warming when planning water projects.^[8]

According to Project Vote Smart, Ken Salazar received a 25 percent vote rating for 2007 by the Humane Society of the United States,^[9] a zero percent vote rating for 2005-2006 by Fund for Animals,^[10] a 60 percent vote rating for 2007 by Defenders of Wildlife,^[11] and a zero percent vote rating on the Animal Welfare Institute Compassion Index^[12]. He also supported the Bush Administration's release of lands in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) for emergency haying in Colorado's Yuma and Phillips Counties.^[13] Salazar has an 81 percent lifetime rating from theLeague of Conservation Voters, including a 100 percent rating for the year 2008.^[14]

Does anyone really believe this dumbass story?

http://justifiedtype.wordpress.com/2010/05/01/the-timely-shooting-of-an-arizona-deputy/

Attack of the Bantam Rooster

Checking on the sick chicken, attacked by the bantam rooster, blood drawn. War declared.

The Wine Glass, The Can Opener and The Cable Guy

Several years ago I was sitting in my Stinson Beach kitchen, chatting with Joe Mama, the Cable Guy.  Because it was after noon, and because I was chatting with the Cable Guy, I poured myself a glass of wine.  Several conspiracy theories later (you don’t want to know) I realized the glass was gone.  I traced my moving-around tracks in this small kitchen but that glass of wine was never seen again. A few days ago, in a kitchen far far away, I opened a jar of mole with a red can opener that has not been seen since. 

The existence of Bermuda Triangles in this world is not disputed – not the ship-eating type or the sock-eating type – so it is not even a stretch to figure that there is a universal small-household-object type.  Or even  personal, individual Bermuda Triangles, black holes which follow us around and from which our doppelgangers reach out on occasion to snatch away our stuff for whatever purpose.  Maybe they take them to some kind of doppelganger garage sale, or maybe they just like to watch us looking around furtively, on top of refrigerators, in laundry baskets, knowing that we look ridiculous.  Joe Mama would surely find a Knights Templar connection here (you don’t want to know).

Black Headed Grosbeaks

all over my usually-ignored bird feeders this morning. Yellow rumped (Audubon) warblers still abundant.

                 (photo filched from the Internets)
For my brother Kimball's Duarte Bird Walk, go here:
http://www.dctvduarte.com/program.php?id=23132

See No Apple

 Michael Moore Tweets: 

  

Who will be the 1st politician to give back Goldman’s tainted money? Bueller? Bueller? Anyone?


Well my guess is nobody, no one, no way, no how.  After all John Paulson is A Bad Apple.  Just like that awful Lindy England.  And Rusty Calley – A Very Bad Apple.  Nothing to see here.

Riding in Trucks with Dogs

I like getting out of Dodge, not least because of the Scenic Route which stretches for hundreds of miles in any direction. Never mind that my brother’s truck is just far enough from the ground that I barely miss falling on my face each time I get out. Or on my ass getting in. The likelihood of either happening increases proportionately to the amount of spectators available and so I am especially careful in, say, the parking lot at Raley's as opposed to the Bark Park type stops. But I digress. So far, my trips out have been spaced months apart, which makes the changing of the seasons more striking -- as in All Of A Sudden there are buds and lillies; or All Of A Sudden, the trees were weighted down with snow. Now I'm sure Vermonters would give a smug shrug to Northern California's fall colors, but they sure work for me. In Marin, there were basically two seasons – “Look at how green everything is” and “Look at how brown everything is.” Aside from the occasional clump of Lillies of the Valley and the rare hardy daffodil, the natural flora and fauna remained pretty much the same all year. (Vegetable gardens of course are more needy.) Riding with my bro is not an exercise in efficient travel between a and b but instead involve scenic tours of, for example, Cave Junction, Hilt and pretty much every strip mall in Medford. Ok, that last I could have done without but what the hell. Throw in some parks and a dog-friendly restaurant.
So far, I have not had the pleasure of being barfed on by a Boston Terrier.

Dobranoc

Killed in the Polish air disaster was one of my heroines from the Solidarity movement -- Wanda Valetinowa, though the article had her first name as Anna and I don't really know how to spell her last name.  She was the crane operater in Gdansk whose firing sparked the movement.  Of course I just loved Lech Walesa who was quite the fox before he got old and fat. 

If I were a Polski, I don't think having Putin in charge of investigating the crash would make me feel all warm and fuzzy....

Justice Stevens to retire. I hope Obama doesn't get cute with this nomination.

What is Frum up to???

Biggest feet in U.S..

Availability is another issue.