Cagney at 7 months

I've been mulling over various political entries, but I just can't pick a topic.  Way too many to rage against at this point in time.  So I decided to take the easy way out and post the latest pictures of the littlest cat in the house, who has decided she is independent and in charge.  So, for your viewing pleasure, here is the Monster-In-Charge:

 
She weighs just over 6 pounds now.  When I snatched her off the street, she was just over 2 pounds.  Here's an early picture of her for contrast:

Happy Days Are Here Again?

The race for the Presidency of the United States is in full swing.  The candidates for the Republican nomination have been busy traveling the country, participating in debates, giving media interviews and just plain speechifying.  What have we learned so far?  Here’s my take on The Issues:

• They are pro-life.  Translation:  they are pro-fetal life and anti-abortion.  To see their positions on the already living, see the other points below.

o   Rick Perry loves to hunt.  In fact, he’s gone hunting with the Champion of Thrill Killing, Ted Nugent.  Apparently his pro-life stance doesn’t extend to other species.

o   Mitt Romney, many years ago, put the family Irish Setter in a crate and tied the crate to the top of the family station wagon for a road trip to Canada from Massachusetts.  Back then, though, he was pro-choice.  I’m willing to bet, had the dog been given a choice, he would have preferred to ride inside the car.  

• The Federal Government spends too much money.  Translation:  social problems, education, Social Security and Medicare are bankrupting our country.  The wars and the Department of Defense, on the other hand, need even more money. 

o   Mitt Romney has four grown sons, none of whom have served in the military.  Even one of England’s princes has served in the Afghan/Iraq wars.

o   The wars in Afghanistan & Iraq (money only, not lives) is approaching $ 1.3 trillion dollars

o   The latest budget for the Defense Department is $ 680 billion dollars.

• The Department of Education is bad.  Michelle Bachman wants to dismantle it and the others want to decrease its budget.

• Climate change isn’t real.  Rick Perry accuses scientists of making it up to obtain grant money.

• Obamacare is bad.  I abhor this moniker.  The health care plan was negotiated in Congress and passed by Congress, it was not a Presidential order, nor written by the President.  In 2010, 26% of Americans do not have health care coverage. 

•  The issue that is the top concern of most Americans, jobs, is an issue that most of the candidates agree on.  They want to cut corporate taxes (even though many corporations, because of allowed deductions and write-offs, tax loopholes and savvy accountants, pay little or no taxes already) and lower the tax rates for the “job creators.”  Of course after 10 years of the Bush tax cuts, those so-called job creators have slashed jobs instead of creating them.  Wealth is more heavily concentrated in the top 2% now than it has been since the period preceding the 1929 stock market crash.  If 10 years of lower taxes on the top income brackets has led to the highest unemployment numbers in nearly 100 years, why extend this failed policy? 

o   And this is Ron Paul during one of the Republican debates:

“Do you advocate getting rid of the minimum wage, would that create more jobs?” Politico’s John Harris asked Paul during Wednesday’s Republican presidential debate.

“Absolutely,” Paul declared. “It would help the poor people who need jobs. Minimum wage is a mandate. We’re against mandates so why should we have it? It would be very beneficial.”

Additionally, to spur job growth, the candidates blame the cost of over regulation on the lack of job creation.  Having to meet minimum safety requirements or environmental regulations (like Clean Air & Clean Water standards) hampers businesses and prevents them from being able to afford to add more employees.  In their minds, government intervention is to blame for the high unemployment rate in the U.S. 

So where exactly is the concern for the American people who are out of work?  Well, here’s Herman Cain’s take on Occupy Wall Street and the unemployed:

CAIN: I don’t have facts to back this up, but I happen to believe that these demonstrations are planned and orchestrated to distract from the failed policies of the Obama administration. Don’t blame Wall Street, don’t blame the big banks, if you don’t have a job and you’re not rich, blame yourself! [...] It is not someone’s fault if they succeeded, it is someone’s fault if they failed.

I guess that the “Compassionate Conservative” days are over.  Let’s all sing that upbeat standard from the Great Depression, “Happy Days Are Here Again.”  

 I’m beginning to feel that the movie Soylent Green isn’t far from becoming Science Fact instead of Science Fiction.  

If these are the faces of democracy in word and action, they are making socialism look pretty damn good.

Checking in

No, I haven't fallen off the face of the earth.  I have been extraordinarily tired lately.  By the time I get home from work, wash the critters' dishes, feed the hungry herd and then tackle the rest of the herd in the cat room, I'm 15 minutes from passing out on the couch.  Even with extra vitamin D3 pills daily, my internal battery has lost its juice.

Some good things:

• The Big Bang Theory is FINALLY in syndication.  Yay!  I get to watch all those episodes I missed when the show started.  
• Terra Nova debuted.  DINOSAURS & Jason O'Mara, oh my.  O'Mara was the creepiest villain on The Closer.  He's nice to look at - but I REALLY like the dinosaurs.
• Had a wonderful lunch with my amazing friend Candy S today.  Garden Cafe - delicious food, interesting company/conversation.  Thanks again for the lunch, Candy.
• There has been a change of seasons (temporarily, no doubt) in sunny Florida.  I opened the front door and a few windows this AM, much to the delight of the cats.  Turned off the A/C for a few hours.  It's a GOOD THING!
• A friend & fellow cat rescuer has stepped up to help me get the no longer little Cagney spayed at a much reduced rate.  (Our local animal services clinic has temporarily stopped public appointments for cats & dogs.  Their new veterinarian is fresh out of school and not able to handle the volume that previous seasoned vets were able to do - that is definitely NOT a good thing.  It means even more homeless, unwanted animals will end up at the shelter sooner or later and neither animal services nor the local SPCA are No-Kill facilities).

Some possibly good things:

• Claudia seems to be responding to this herbal/holistic med KIDNI FLOW.  Two puddles without any blood in them.  It could be my imagination, but she seems to be feeling a bit better too.  I'm sure she was experiencing some pain with this bladder problem.  Please keep your fingers crossed that this stuff will work & clear up Claudia's bladder problem.
• Colt's eosiniphilic granuloma on his lip has healed.  
• The On agan, Off agan washer & dryer have mostly been On again.

On the political front:

• Our political system is so screwed up that my ranting is much like Don Quixote tilting at windmills.  I just don't have the energy to get upset - or at least not lately.  Bernie Sanders seems to be the only voice of reason in Washington.  The rest of those guys are nothing more than scam artists.  Instead of promising to make us rich with their investment schemes, they are scamming most Americans into believing their latest hair-brained idea will improve our collective futures, when the only future they are interested in IS THEIRS.  Move along fellows, I'm not buying.

It's time to finish the laundry, mop the kitchen & bathroom floors and start the buffet for that perpetually hungry horde of mine.

Keep in touch.