Weekend Cat Blogging #334 Halloween Edition

Boo! Happy Halloween!

This week's Halloween Edition of Weekend Cat Blogging is hosted by Amar and Luna at catsynth.

GOP Voters Must Be So Proud

This has got to be the strangest presidential campaign ever, certainly in my lifetime.  Throwing a book in the fire of GOP presidential candidates is Terry Jones, the Florida pastor who almost sparked an international incident by threatening a Quran burning party on the anniversary of 9/11.  It was reported that he burned holy books several months later that resulted in a riot in Afghanistan and the deaths of 10 United Nation officials.

He has managed a hotel and started a small church, so he is just as qualified as some of the others running this election. I realize he is not a serious candidate, but then again I didn't think others running this election could possibly be serious or taken seriously, either. I blame John McCain in his act of desperation for all this crazy. Once he selected someone like Sarah Palin as a VP candidate, it seemed to give every crazy permission to strive for a better salary and a Fox News job.

If Jones isn't elected, he has said he thinks Herman Cain, motivational speaker for the last 15 years and current Koch brothers' puppet, would make an excellent President.  Herman Cain is selling books so I suppose Jones thought he could sell his books with this announcement. If he gets an invitation then that is a GOP debate I will watch. Geez ... Stay tuned.

White Men Can Golf

Photoshopped, yes, but this is a good visual confirming how I feel about golf courses. For many, golf is just another sport, even a fun sport. Some people defend them citing exercise. For someone my age and a female specifically, golf courses always represented a place where white men met to make business contacts and deals. They represented places that excluded people of color and relegated women to playing one day a week and eating/drinking in separate dining rooms with children.

I haven't been able to shake this prejudice of mine, even after all these years. I'm not proud of it. But, if the golf shoe fits....

Photo seen on The Ed Schultz Show Facebook page.

Feel Good Friday

Keep Your Eyes on the Income Inequality

Released from the Congressional Budget Office

CBO finds that, between 1979 and 2007, income grew by:

• 275 percent for the top 1 percent of households,
• 65 percent for the next 19 percent,
• Just under 40 percent for the next 60 percent, and
• 18 percent for the bottom 20 percent.

Wonkblog: The CBO takes on income equality

My Home's in Alabama, But...

Wrong about Civil Rights

Wrong about The Beatles

In August 1966, five months after Cleave's article appeared in the Evening Standard, an American teen magazine, Datebook, printed Lennon's quote about Christianity on its front cover.^[8][9][10] There was an immediate response, starting with an announcement by two radio stations in Alabama and Texas that they had banned Beatles' music from their playlists.WAQY DJ, Tommy Charles: "We just felt it was so absurd and sacrilegious that something ought to be done to show them that they can't get away with this sort of thing".^[11] Around two dozen other stations followed suit with similar announcements. Some stations in the South went further, organising demonstrations with bonfires, drawing hordes of teenagers to publicly burn their Beatles' records and other memorabilia.^{[12] (source)}

Wrong about Immigration

Occupy Wall Street or Your Street Now!

This is the movement I have been waiting to happen, the one that says, enough is enough! The one that places the blame on the actions and the people responsible rather than dividing us with fear tactics and misinformation. The movement that stands up for the people, the people without any real power but who go to work everyday and who give back to the community. The one that stands up for the people who are working longer hours for less pay. The one that stands up for people who are unable to find jobs but must endure a House of Representatives who spends their time on culture war issues (the House has voted on seven anti-abortion bills just this year). The one that stands up for the people who have lost their homes or who are under water to help make the wealthy wealthier. (To quote Chris Rock, "Shaq is rich. The white man who signs his check is wealthy.") I have been waiting for the movement that stands up for me and, most likely, you. Remember Billionaires for Bush (satire, I think)? Welcome to Occupy Wall Street (serious as a heart attack, I know)!

It is no surprise that Elizabeth Warren could not get confirmed by this Congress. She exposes these Wall Street billionaires and the cronies who love them. She kicks the pedestals out from under those who believe they should be standing on one. It was our labor who helped build companies. It was our tax money who allowed them to grow and succeed. And, it was our tax money that kept them  from going under after they  failed. We are now holding them accountable and we demand economic justice.

Street demonstrations may not get much accomplished, but they are messy and inconvenient, and as the numbers grow and the police continue to pepper spray and injure its participants, they are newsworthy. And, they are growing from the largest cities to the smaller towns. Working people, union and non-union, are saying enough. Wall Street took our pensions, are taking our 401Ks, and are after our Social Security. We say, NO!

Elizabeth Warren details our history in the following video. This is the best education I have heard on why people are occupying Wall Street and Main Street. We are mad as hell, and we aren't going to take take it anymore.

Yes, maybe bongo drums are funny. Would you prefer the man who showed up at an Arizona protest with an assault rifle over his shoulder? Did you laugh when a Tea Party demonstrators spit on esteemed civil rights leaders and Congressmen and hurled racial and homophobic epithets? Did you laugh when an entire media outlet became the mouthpiece of that movement? The majority of the Tea Party demonstrators fall into this 99% group; their organizers and financiers do not. Watch Ms. Warren's video and ask yourself, what am I laughing about?

A GOP Dictionary For The Rest Of Us

There was a time when one could have a decent and constructive discussion with a Republican that didn't lead to being unfriended on Facebook or shouted down or bullied. That no longer appears to be the case. For the most part, attempting to talk to today's GOP voter causes my head to spin around (think Linda Blair). Many of us on the other side are convinced this is all they hear: whock, whock, whock, taxes, whock whock, whock, Reagan, whock, whock, whock, whock, Jesus, whock, whock, whock, whock, whock, whock....IF they allow you to talk at all.

Jonathan Bines, staff writer for Jimmy Kimmel Live, was kind enough to collect a glossary on How to Talk to a Republican and I had to share it with you here. Hopefully, it will help us break through the bubble or, at least, know WTF they are thinking!

• America (United States of): A country located in the N. Western Hemisphere that is #1.
• Bible: A sacred text that provides incontestable answers when thumped.
• Birth Certificate: An official birth record required of all US Presidents, regardless of race, since 2008.
• Capitalism: A system of economic organization that has never been attempted.
• Christmas: A holiday commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, now rarely celebrated due to persecution by atheists.
• Compromise: (uncommon) A form of political suicide.
• Coast (East): A very bad coast of the continental United States.
• Coast (West): Another really inexcusable coast.
• Communism: The belief that the government should ever do anything.
• Condescending: Accurately informed.
• Constitution (U.S.): The hallowed founding document of the United States, the text of which must be interpreted strictly and amended immediately.
• Corporations: Large people who are overtaxed.
• Deficits: 1) Fiscal shortfalls incurred by Democrats that threaten to bankrupt the country. 2) Fiscal shortfalls incurred by Republicans that don't matter.
• Democrat: A political party.
• Election: A method of selecting representatives, the fraudulence of which may be determined by the outcome.
• Elitist: Qualified.
• Endangered Species: Animals that have it coming.
• Evolution: A theory of human origins that is out there.
• Extremist (Liberal): Espousing or adhering to political beliefs that are held by only a majority of Americans.
• Fact: Information that has been verifiably posted to a RedState comment board.
• Forest (National): Trees that have it coming.
• Gut: Region of the body from which decisions should be made.
• Homosexuality: A membership-only lifestyle organization that perpetuates itself through youth recruitment.
• Hitler: A man to whom it would be inappropriate to compare President Obama in spite of the many uncanny similarities.
• Jesus: Charismatic religious leader and son of God; born in Bethlehem in the year 0; beliefs include love, charity, enhanced interrogation, privatized healthcare, elimination of the estate tax, and the right to carry concealed semiautomatic weapons.
• League (Ivy): an association of eight Eastern universities and colleges, the lack of a fancy education from which qualifies a candidate for political office.
• Liberal: A person who should be rounded up and shot but not really.
• Marxism: A political and economic philosophy developed by Karl Marx and promulgated by Paul Krugman.
• Media (Mainstream): Where you won't hear things.
• Medicare: A fraudulent, socialistic boondoggle that is sacrosanct.
• Mexicans: Brown people who have it coming.
• Mountaintops: Ancient rock formations that have it coming.
• Muslims: Brown people who have it coming.
• News: Fox News
• Obamacare: A Federally-mandated policy to address the national oversupply of grandparents through euthanasia.
• Organic: Eaten by lesbians.
• Party (Tea): A grass-roots movement of patriotic Americans fighting for the principle of "No Taxation With Representation."
• Poll: A survey used to determine, to within a margin of error, what percentage of Americans are right.
• Poverty: The condition of having inadequate financial or material resources due to not trying hard enough.
• Propaganda: The politically motivated dissemination of biased information, opinion, or data through its publication in the New York Times.
• Punishment (Capital): The legally authorized killing by the State of someone who is definitely guilty.
• Racism: A form of discrimination that typically happens in reverse.
• Regulation: Rules issued by a government agency for no reason.
• Ronald Reagan: A fictional character based loosely on President Ronald Reagan.
• Scientist: A person who employs a rigorous system of observation, experiment, measurement, and verification to perpetuate his Godless left-wing agenda.
• Social Security: A redistributionist Ponzi scheme that is sacrosanct.
• Socialism: An economic system invented by FDR.
• Taxes: Levies imposed by the government that raise more revenue the lower they are.
• Torture: A method of interrogation that does not rise to the level of torture.
• Terrorist: A person to whom a person who threatens to destroy the U.S. economy unless his demands are met should not be compared.
• Unbiased: Giving equal weight to both sides of the looking glass.
• Wealthy (the): People who earned every penny.
• Up: A direction which, depending on circumstances, is down.
• Warming (Global): An anomalous, anthropogenic increase in the earth's atmospheric and oceanic temperatures that isn't happening.
• Welfare: A government program to distribute Cadillacs to unwed mothers.
• Yes: (no translation available)

Weekend Cat Blogging, #333

 App for Cats

Catch the Mouse iPad2 App

Jules has been warming up to his iPad2 apps of late. It helps if my foot wiggles under the iPad to keep his focus. He seems to like the App for Cats as he is, after all, a bug man. Vincent still prefers to be uncomfortably flattened under the bed when the games come out.

This week's Weekend Cat Blogging is hosted by Billy Sweetfeets Gingersnap.

Alabama Crimson Tide v Tennessee Volunteers

 www.rolltide.com

Roll Tide, Roll!

Feel Good Friday

Can you HEAR me now?

I accidentally overheard a caller to the local Rick and Bubba radio show saying they had no idea what the Occupy Wall Street protests were trying to accomplish. My first thought was, that is because you listen to and call in radio shows like Rick and Bubba. Then, I remembered this Tom Tomorrow cartoon. No matter what you say some times people just will not hear you. Sadly, these are the same people who are getting screwed. too.

Thank you, Iris Dement

When facism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross .

~ Sinclair Lewis

Living in the wasteland of the free...

We got preachers dealing in politics and diamond mines
and their speech is growing increasingly unkind
They say they are Christ's disciples
but they don't look like Jesus to me
and it feels like I am living in the wasteland of the free

We got politicians running races on corporate cash
Now don't tell me they don't turn around and kiss them peoples' ass
You may call me old-fashioned
but that don't fit my picture of a true democracy
and it feels like I am living in the wasteland of the free

We got CEO's making two hundred times the workers' pay
but they'll fight like hell against raising the minimum wage
and If you don't like it, mister, they'll ship your job
to some third-world country 'cross the sea
and it feels like I am living in the wasteland of the free

Living in the wasteland of the free
where the poor have now become the enemy
Let's blame our troubles on the weak ones
Sounds like some kind of Hitler remedy
Living in the wasteland of the free

We got little kids with guns fighting inner city wars
So what do we do, we put these little kids behind prison doors
and we call ourselves the advanced civilization
that sounds like crap to me
and it feels like I am living in the wasteland of the free

We got high-school kids running 'round in Calvin Klein and Guess
who cannot pass a sixth-grade reading test
but if you ask them, they can tell you
the name of every crotch on mTV
and it feels like I am living in the wasteland of the free

We kill for oil, then we throw a party when we win
Some guy refuses to fight, and we call that the sin
but he's standing up for what he believes in
and that seems pretty damned American to me
and it feels like I am living in the wasteland of the free

Living in the wasteland of the free
where the poor have now become the enemy
Let's blame our troubles on the weak ones
Sounds like some kind of Hitler remedy
Living in the wasteland of the free

While we sit gloating in our greatness
justice is sinking to the bottom of the sea
Living in the wasteland of the free
Living in the wasteland of the free
Living in the wasteland of the free
~~ Iris Dement

Matt Taibbi on Occupy Wall Street

One of today's best investigative journalists can be found in what seems to me an unlikely place, Rolling Stone magazine. I have learned so much from political journalist and Rolling Stone contributor, Matt Taibbi. Speaking on Current TV, Taibbi shared suggestions he developed after discussing with his colleagues for Occupy Wall Street protesters:

1. Break up the monopolies....There are about 20 such firms in America, and they need to be dismantled.
2. Pay for your own bailouts. A tax of 0.1 percent on all trades of stocks and bonds and a 0.01 percent tax on all trades of derivatives would generate enough revenue to pay us back for the bailouts, and still have plenty left over to fight the deficits the banks claim to be so worried about.
3. No public money for private lobbying. A company that receives a public bailout should not be allowed to use the taxpayer's own money to lobby against him.
4. Tax hedge-fund gamblers. For starters, we need an immediate repeal of the preposterous and indefensible carried-interest tax break.
5. Change the way bankers get paid. We need new laws preventing Wall Street executives from getting bonuses upfront for deals that might blow up in all of our faces later. (source)

Sounds reasonable to me. What do you think? 

Pass it on! The Revolution Starts Now! Share the first Occupy Wall Street commercial:

 
Occupy Wall Street from David Sauvage on Vimeo.

Weekend Cat Blogging #332

Welcome to Weekend Cat Blogging! Let us know what you are doing this weekend by leaving a comment and link below. Jules and Vincent are waiting to hear from you!

Sunday is National Feral Cat Day. From the website:

Alley Cat Allies launched National Feral Cat Day on our 10th anniversary in 2001 to raise awareness about feral cats, promote Trap-Neuter-Return, and recognize the millions of compassionate Americans who care for them.

Every year, people in communities across the country hold hundreds of events on National Feral Cat Day to draw attention to the cause and make a difference in the lives of cats.

Please visit the website, Alley Cat Allies, to learn more and locate and event close to you.

Jules Winnfield

And just the thought
of seeing you again I wanna say
I've been longin for this day

So I'll be waiting
'cus I cant smile until I see your smile
I'll be waiting
there's nothing else that I would rather do
I'll be waiting
'cus I can't sleep until I hear your heart
I'll be waiting
patiently I'll wait right here for you

Waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting
Patiently I'll wait right here for you
Waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting
Patiently I wait (Beyonce)

Note from Judi: Thinking of getting Jules and Vincent a kitty stroller so they can sit by the lake safely and/or get a little sunshine while helping me walk for exercise (assuming I can get them in the stroller, get them down the stairs, and not die from embarrassment). Any suggestions?

Feel Good Friday

Weekend Cat Blogging #331

Jules and Vincent - Loving Brothers

This week's Weekend Cat Blogging is hosted by Smudge, Patchouli, and Coco (and Pam) at sidewalkshoes.  

Homecoming: #2 Alabama v Vanderbilt

Watch video at www.rolltide.com.

Feel Good Friday

Who will be our next Steve Jobs?

Note: I include this cartoon not to insinuate that Jobs was a snake or Satan, but to suggest that he had the sense of what we needed from the very beginning to help us change and improve our worlds.

I don't own a Mac but I own its little sisters, iPod, iPhone, and iPad2. I understood the need for the iPod immediately; I resisted the iPhone until I understood that "phone" was such a small part of the device; and, I'm learning that the iPad2 is not only for those of us with poor vision. Okay, I'm not a techie or one of great vision but I do eventually learn.

I saw these quotes included in a LinkedIn article, How Steve Jobs mentored a physician and changed health care, by Dr. Davis Liu citing Steve Jobs as a mentor for him in the delivery of health care. As someone who has worked in health care for the majority of my adult life, I have seen the better but, more often, the worst of health care delivery and chaos.

Bill and Melinda Gates are putting their money into action to change the world. What if the world put Steve Jobs' leadership principles into action to change the world? Before I break into Kumbaya, what if our politicians aspired to change the world...for the better? We need the best and the brightest with integrity. Not just one person but a chamber of people. Who will step up and be our next visionaries?

"Innovation has nothing to do with how many R&D dollars you have. When Apple came up with the Mac, IBM was spending at least 100 times more on R&D. It’s not about money. It’s about the people you have, how you’re led, and how much you get it.”
— Fortune, Nov. 9, 1998

“It’s really hard to design products by focus groups. A lot of times, people don’t know what they want until you show it to them.”
— BusinessWeek, May 25 1998

“It comes from saying no to 1,000 things to make sure we don’t get on the wrong track or try to do too much.”
— BusinessWeek Online, Oct. 12, 2004

“Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugared water or do you want a chance to change the world?”
— The line he used to lure John Sculley as Apple’s CEO, according toOdyssey: Pepsi to Apple, by John Sculley and John Byrne

“So you can’t go out and ask people, you know, what the next big [thing.] There’s a great quote by Henry Ford, right? He said, ‘If I’d have asked my customers what they wanted, they would have told me “A faster horse.” ‘ ” – CNN / Money

“My job is to not be easy on people. My job is to make them better. My job is to pull things together from different parts of the company and clear the ways and get the resources for the key projects. And to take these great people we have and to push them and make them even better, coming up with more aggressive visions of how it could be.” – CNN / Money

And, here is my personal favorite:

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.” – Stanford 2005 commencement address

RIP Steve Jobs

My Third Act

The alchemy of a changing life is the only truth. ~ Rumi

Jane Fonda's book, My Life So Far, focused on the first part of her life and looked ahead to what she called her "third act".  According to Fonda, Acts I and II of a play can feel confusing then Act III brings it all together for us. She defined the third act as ages 60 to 90.

I'm not quite 60, but I officially moved into my third act at 4:30 p.m. yesterday on what would have been my mother's 91st birthday and five days before my own 57th birthday. I physically felt the transition. Although I admire Fonda tremendously, I don't think about her that often and I haven't read her book, but I literally thought to myself, I have moved into my third act. What could have been the worst day of my life to date seemed more like the last day of school before summer vacation.

Despite a life of continual flux, it never felt that it was a life moving forward. I was only moving. The search for answers, closure, and satisfaction may have prevented me from actually being present in my life. The answers, the closure, the satisfaction may have come from accepting that my life was about change, about the flux. 

My third act will start as a 57-year-old overweight female looking for a job. I will be a 57-year-old female with acute and chronic medical problems who will not be covered by medical insurance. Talk about walking the high wire! I will be searching for a job in the worst economy of my lifetime. Life is one big curve ball, isn't it?

My third act will be the last one so I want to get it right. I feel an incredible amount of excitement. Maybe it is shock. Maybe it is denial. Maybe it is exactly what it is suppose to be. I am anxious to see how it is going to turn out.

College Gameday Fashion for Pets

Greater Birmingham Humane Society Gift Shop

Weekend Cat Blogging #330

Vincent makes himself at home atop the one legal pad I use for work to jot down quick reminders. Of course, he wins every time!

Vincent's cousin and Vincent impersonator, Eddy Mildew, prefers the kitchen.

This week's Weekend Cat Blogging is hosted by Mind of Mog.