Tiger, Meet Mr. Evil

Though I was given Tiger with his name already determined, if I had to give him one, I think I would call him Mr. Evil. So cute... so vicious.

Today I'm at the computer surfing, and Tiger comes up next to me and I ignore him, until I hear an aggressive snarl and I look to see that he has caught a mouse. Let me describe what he does to this poor mouse.

He lets it go, the mouse scrurries, Tiger pounces, meaty claws of death piercing the critter's flesh. Tiger grabs holds of the hyperventilating rodent in his mouth and holds it there, his fangs spearing the animal. Then he lets the mouse go. The mouse runs for its life, Tiger pounces, meaty claws of death...

He lets the mouse go from his deadly fangs, the mouse runs, meaty claws of death...

I'm watching, fascinated and a bit horror-struck.

Finally, I grab the tattered remains of the now dead mouse by the tail, and toss him into the back yard. This is the second mouse, that I know of, that Tiger has tortured to death for his amusement.

Even as I type this, Tiger is on my lap, purring and rubbing, oblivious to what I am telling the world about him.

His given name is Tiger, but Mr. Evil appears now and then.

On the Black KKK

"You're damn straight I blame hip hop for playing a role in the genocide of American black men. When your leading causes of death and dysfunction are murder, ignorance and incarceration, there's no reason to give a free pass to a culture that celebrates murder, ignorance and incarceration."

Damn powerful commentary on a muredered athlete, dead at 24.

Concerning Nooses, We've Gone Past Parody

Between Eagle Scouts getting suspended from school for knowledge in knot tying, and theater students getting censored by the professionally outraged, pretty soon it's going to be taboo to be seen in public with a copy of The Ox-Bow Incident.

Sources: Nathan & Bob

A Sacrifice Upon the Altar

Here is an article about a woman who had an abortion because babies leave too large a carbon footprint.

Not much you can really say about people who equate this -- with that.

I don't know the gender of the woman's aborted fetus, but I think the name Isaac would be appropriate regardless of its sex.

Unfortunately, this woman's god provided no ram with its horns stuck in a thicket.

I Think This is Revenge For the "Dumpster Muffin" Comment

Aunt B, my favorite feminist with whom I agree with almost none of the time (except when I agree with her) tagged me with a meme. Since it would be simply rude not to comply with the wishes of such a charming woman, here we go. These are the rules.

1) Link to the person that tagged you, and post the rules on your blog.
2) Share 7 facts about yourself.
3) Tag 7 random people at the end of your post, and include links to their blogs.
4) Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Here we go:

1) I really wish I could sing. I love singing along in the car: all emotion, no talent or tune.

"Under the boa.. ohhd...walk... down by the sea... ee... ee... ee. Yeah! On a blanket with my ba...bay... is where I'll be..."

I am horribly tone deaf, and cannot hold a note to save my life. If someone held a gun to my head, struck a tuning fork and said, "sing that tone or get a bullet through the brain," I would have to ask before my attempt that the perp shoot me in a manner so that my mom could have an open casket funeral for me.

2) I lost on "Jeopardy!" I was winning late in the second round when I made a big bet on a Double Jeopardy in the category of Dickens. Then I suffered a brain fart and answered Nicholas Nickelby when the correct answer/question was "What is David Copperfield." I placed second and won $2000, but to this day I wonder "what if?" It's so bad that the experience ruined the show for me, and I can no longer watch it on TV.

3) I am sometimes too hard on myself. See #2 for an example.

4) I don't like my job, but it paid for my house. So I try to kid myself that I do like my job, and I end up talking about mattresses similar to how Hank Hill talks about Propane and Propane accessories.

5) My senior year of high school, I was co-captain of both the academic team, and of the wrestling team, meaning that I was the jock among the nerds, and the nerd among the jocks. I fit in with both... and with neither at the same time. I was better at the academic team stuff, helping to win a state title my junior year, yet I was more proud of my wrestling team stuff, maybe because it was tougher for me, or because my dad was a stud athlete in high school and college.

6) I am 29, but I don't feel that old. I don't feel young, but neither do I feel like I'm almost 30.

7) I believe there are few things better in this world than watching a good bonfire on a cold day. The radiating heat in front of you contrasts briskly with the coldness behind as you stare into the dancing flames. Whether in quiet contemplation, or in conversation with a fellow fire mate, it is a strikingly elemental moment.

Don't know if I can link to seven folks, but how about six: Chance, John H, Dolphin, Glen, Kadnine, and Miss 'Coma.

Making Fun of (Literally) Tree-Hugging Hippies

I have a feeling that the protestors at UC Berkeley sitting in trees to prevent an expansion of an athletic center aren't paying their way through college.

After a court ruling that said the trees can come down, there is debate on how to actually get the protestors out of the trees. While I think something like this might be fun, I would simply suggest to ring the bark off the trees, so the futility of their tantrum can cut like a slow twisting knife.

But reading a news report I noticed this sentence towards the end.

The [tree-sitting] group was feeling "awesome," said a sitter who would give only her nickname of "Dumpster Muffin." Still, she said, they are concerned for their safety. "It's definitely coming to a head of some sort."

Ladies, if your friends begin to call you "Dumpster Muffin," you might possibly consider visiting the feminine hygene aisle in the supermarket.

Yes, I went there.

Happy Thanksgiving

Nothing poignant or special here. Just want to wish you a Happy Thanksgiving, and to hope you spend some time before the food coma set in thinking on which you are thankful for.

Victim Class Weenies

Gotcha!

What the guy did wasn't the brightest thing in the world, but from what I've read, not one person involved has said that the guy was trying to be offensive or mocking. Not one person has said he had racist intentions. He merely was guilty of an inadvertent racial faux pas.

The overreaction though is overwhelming. Instead of somebody simply pulling the guy aside and saying, "Hey, buddy that's not cool and here's why...," you know, like grownups, a victim class gets to wallow in its victimhood.

And there ain't nothing like a good wallowing in victimhood.

The racial sensitivity of the student who put up the noose isn't the issue; it's the hyper sensitivity of those who got to be offended by it. (Yes, that's how I meant to phrase it, they get to feel offended.)

That is neither progress nor strengh, that is weakness -- voluntary weakness. It is a weakness that retards the ability to fully flourish in the rough-and-tumble real world that awaits outside the sheltered college campus.

Or did I just unwittingly insult the mentally challenged with that last sentence, and am now in need of sensitivity training?

My New Roomie

Grandma recently broke her hip. Before waves of concern come my way, let me say that she is fine, albeit lucky. Normally for a woman her age, such an incident means it's wheelchair time. While not sure on the exact medical reasons why, Grandma's recovery should be fine, and she'll be leaving the long term care home she is currently at in another month or two.

Grandpa has been staying with her lately, and when not with her, now spends much of his time living with either my parents, or his widowed daughter-in-law. (My Aunt Mary lost her husband, my Uncle Huey and my Grandpa's son about ten years ago to an extremely rare circulatory disease.)

This is one of those times when family gets together and makes sure that everybody is taken care of. I was enlisted to do my part...

Mom called me one day. After some small talk: "Lee, how's the house going?"

"Everything's fine."

"Say, you wouldn't want to take care of Tiger for Grandpa would you?"

"...."

"Grandpa can't take of him anymore because he's no longer home enough, and we're already taking the dog."

"Well.... I..."

"If you don't take him, I'm afraid we might have to put him down."

What I think but don't say: damn!damn!damn!damn!damn!damn!damn!damn!damn!damn! Mom never uses the guilt trip. Never. She really must be serious and/or desperate to pull out that tactic.

"OK."

"Thanks, Lee. I love you."

"Love you too, Mom." I snap my cellphone shut. Damn.

A week or so later I pick up the cat. I've never considered myself a cat person. The girlfriend has two. One loves me; one would scratch out my eyeballs if she had the chance. I think that may be related to this. Cats never forgive.

Let me describe the ride home shortly. The carrier case was too small, so the poor critter was cramped, crying the entire hour's drive home. Some cries were cries of confusion. Some were cries of being frightened. Some, of being extremely pissed off. But whatever cries they were, they were continuous for the entire trip. Cry... after cry... after cry.

I felt horrible.

Then I get Tiger home, and he wanders about checking out his new digs. Now you may think, "Tiger isn't that creative a cat name." That's true, but what makes it truly amusing is that the previous cat my grandparents owned was the same color, black and gray striped, but he got run over. His name...

Tiger. Why change?

I'm sure you all know where this is going. I love my new roomie. The fellow waits for me everyday when I'm away at work, so happy to see me, almost causing me to trip over him, rubbing against me when I walk about the house, sleeping next to me in bed, his purr the volume and depth of a motor boat. His tendency for play is contagious. His claws rarely scratch me, but when excited he will bust out his love chomp, and when he bites it hurts -- a lot.

So life with Tiger is good. But if I ever become a full time cat blogger, please feel free to mock.

Look, How Sweet!

Aw, look at this family. How cute! You know, now a days, you just don't see parents spending enough quality time together with their kids. And aren't those facemasks those kids are wearing adorable. I hope none of those kids get pepper sprayed, or hit by a rock from one of his fellow protestors. That would surely mar this otherwise picturesque family moment.

*****

In all seriousness, the problem isn't that some idiot parent or two brought their kids to an anti-war protest -- not the type where the protestors hold candles and signs while chanting and praying, but the type involved in confrontation, rock throwing, and the wearing of facemasks. There will always be idiot parents. The real problem is that their fellow protestors tolerated these idiot parents bringing their kids to such an event.

I hope a fellow protestor said, "This is no place for kids, get them outta here, now!"

But I doubt it.

Serious Column on Race From a Liberal Columnist

If somebody asked me who was my favorite liberal pundit, I would have to answer with Clarence Page. If I had to give one word to describe him, it would probably be "serious." He rarely allows himself to name call or score points.

Not that I agree with him all the time, or even most -- he is after all liberal. But I trust him to be a necessary check against right-shift. A good example is this paragraph:

"Whether you come at these findings from the political right, the left or the wobbly moderate middle, they call for serious discussion and, one hopes, action. Unfortunately the nation's airtime and talk time is more likely to be taken up with arguments about racial etiquette and which celebrity is the latest to break the rules."

This column is actually good stuff.

PS: Is this balance for a blistering partisan post below? Maybe. Gotta intice you libs with something to get you to come over here so I can corrupt you with my eeevil conservative ways. Bwaaa-ha ha. Soon y'all will be like, "Let the markets decide," or "Maybe Western culture is superior in some regards to other world cultures."

PPS: Seriously, Page makes some salient points I found myself agreeing with. Check it out.

I Would Call This Another Example of Media Liberal Bias, But That Would be Incorrect.

Reading the paper this morning at work, and came across a column by John David Dyche, essentially the Courier-Journal's David Brooks. The first two thirds of the column are a pep talk for Republicans in the state following the election, but then he winds up the column with one hell of a bombshell.

"But neither of these well-funded Democrats [Reps. John Yarmuth and Ben Chandler] has been targeted by a journalistic jihad like the Lexington Herald-Leader is waging against Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell.

As chronicled by Bridget Bush's bright new conservative blog, "Elephants in the Bluegrass," the Herald-Leader took money funneled from a secretive, liberal foundation to fund multiple hit pieces against McConnell. Citing obvious ethical problems, the paper's new owners refunded the money, but ran the series anyway. McConnell's office requested multiple factual corrections and clarifications without success.

John Cheves, the screed's author, then went to work for liberal Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon. After making a seamless transition from that partisan post back to ostensibly objective reporting, Cheves recently penned another anti-McConnell attack.

This time, the Democratic staffer-cum-reporter questioned McConnell's funding of defense projects that provide 320 high-paying Louisville jobs. McConnell sent the editorial page a letter, but instead of printing it, the paper provided it to Cheves, who used selective quotes in another slanted story."

The Elephants in the Bluegrass post on the hit piece is here. Very informative material.

The absolute scandal on not printing a letter to the editor but instead letting a reporter fisk it first in a supposed "news article," then to only publish a redacted version later that omits the damning arguments that McConnell makes (while not letting the public know of the editing) is here.

Here is what the Herald-Leader left out of the senator's letter when it published it.

"Reporter John Cheves, the man who did a series of lengthy articles last year attacking me, is at it again. Shortly before those stories appeared in the Herald-Leader, it came to light that the research had been funded by a liberal, out-of-state special-interest group. Once that news broke, the owners of the Herald Leader insisted that the paper return the funds that had been provided to the reporter. Now, the same reporter who was tarnished by the out-of-state special-interest funding, and who recently returned from spending the last year on the staff of one of the most liberal United States senators. . . ."

Letter unedited. Letter edited. Notice the difference?

Website listing "unbiased reporter" John Cheves working for Sen. Wyden (D) here (bottom listing on right column.)

How many journalistic ethics rules were being broken by all this? (And I don't mean shades of gray here, but rules outlined with big-ass blinking orange hazard signs that say Do Not Cross!!)

Enough to know that calling this "liberal media bias" is much too kind. This is "liberal media intentional deceit."

2nd Amendment Commentary in the Most Unlikely of Places

Read this in the paper this morning, and knew somebody was going to post on it.

Lettuce, Tomato, Onion, Etc.

Just made myself two sandwiches while sitting in tonight watching the football game on TV. (It's Oklahoma State/Kansas, so I know what Chance is doing right now.) When I have time, I go all out on my fixings: crispy leaves of iceburg lettuce, two slices of tomato, pungent red onion, and either Miracle Whip or mustard, depending on my mood.

And cheese, you cannot forget the cheese. I had a English professor in college who was vegan, and talking about it one day in class, he said he didn't miss any animal products... except cheese.

"I have dreams about cheese," he said with a surprising amount of solemnity. I completely understand.

Usually I'll go with either Swiss, Mild Cheddar, or Colby on my sandwiches. I react to Kraft Singles in a similar manner as microbrewery fans to Bud Light. I go with Cheddar tonight, on wheat bread.

I'm watching the game, chomping away, and everything is fine, but I'm halfway through my first sandwich when I notice something different. Something is not right with the texture of the meal. I separate a foreign object from the rest of the food in my mouth and spit it out on my hand.

You know that thin kind of gauzy paper that comes between slices of cheese and certain lunch meats to allow those slices to be easily pulled apart. I inspected my sandwich and saw the remainder of that paper stuck to the bottom of the half eaten cheese -- the remainder that I hadn't already ate.

Well, I guess I did get some fiber in my diet.

Peggy Noonan Busts Out the Whoopin' Stick

Wow. An iron gauntlet, lined with velvet, across the kisser with a right hook.

"I am not sure of the salience of Mr. Obama's new-generational approach. Mrs. Clinton's generation, he suggests, is caught in the 1960s, fighting old battles, clinging to old divisions, frozen in time, and the way to get past it is to get past her. Maybe this will resonate. But I don't think Mrs. Clinton is the exemplar of a generation, she is the exemplar of a quadrant within a generation, and it is the quadrant the rest of us of that generation do not like. They came from comfort and stability, visited poverty as part of a college program, fashionably disliked their country, and cultivated a bitterness that was wholly unearned. They went on to become investment bankers and politicians and enjoy wealth, power or both."

HT: AoS

No Respite From the Political Ad Wars in the Bluegrass

As RealClearPolitics is pointing out on its blog, a bunch of liberal groups are spending big bucks to try to get Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell defeated in his reelection bid in '08. McConnell in turn is already airing his own ads.

These leftwing groups pretty much want McConnell's head on a spike as revenge for the loss of Tom Daschle back in '04. Daschle of course was the leader of the Senate Democrats when he was ousted.

There is a lot of energy out there to accomplish this, but many of these folks seem to be forgetting a very salient fact. Daschle was a liberal in the conservative state of South Dakota, while McConnell is, like the commonwealth in general, conservative. And more importantly, McConnell will share his ballot with the general Presidential election. Kentucky, while maybe not quite as crimson as Utah, is still a deep red state.

So there are only two scenarios for a potential ouster of McConnell.

1) The GOP nominee carries Kentucky like expected. But while bluegrass voters vote in a majority for a Republican president, they don't reelect their senator from that same party, who happens to be in a position of great leadership and power.

2) The Democrats carry Kentucky, and McConnell loses as well.

For option one to occur, there must be some sort of horrible self-inflicted wound that McConnell would have to commit -- something macaca-esque, and a stronger than average challenger to take advantage. While possible, I don't see that happening. McConnell is too shrewd to defeat himself. A highly unlikely scenario.

For option two to occur, a Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, or John Edwards would have to win Kentucky in the general election. If Clinton, Obama or Edwards pulls out Kentucky of all states, then the GOP has much bigger problems than losing Mitch McConnell.

So this money spent on unseating Mitch McConnell will make the man work for his seat, which is healthy in a democracy, so it's not like I really have a problem with it. But it will be annoying having to watch attack ads for the next 12 months. Even political junkies like myself will be numb to them by then.

But the money spent by national leftwing group may have been more wisely used in other races with a better shot of winning. The blood of revenge, however, may just be too tasty to resist.

Bookish Arrogance

While the big news locally is that Steve Beshear (D) stomped Ernie Fletcher (R) in Fletcher's bid for reelection by 18 points, another local election took place that was an even greater landslide. A referendum to increase taxes to fund libraries in Jefferson County/Louisville lost by more than a 2-1 advantage, 67-34 percent.

Why does Louisville want to be a backwards, illiterate, book burning city of troglodytes where children are deprived the joys of reading by mean greedy people?

That last sentence was the attitude of those who pushed this tax. There were many reasons that people may want to oppose another tax. For one, Louisville recently ranked 11th on a list of most taxed cities, above places like Boston, Chicago and Los Angeles. Another reason is that the Metro Council is not viewed as handling the current tax receipts with efficiency.

(A good example is that after a recent attempt to have an efficiency study done to see if some governmental services could be better run at cheaper cost to taxpayers by hiring contractors, the local public employee unions went ape poop, and cowed the council into not even having a study done.)

So anyway, long story short, the tax failed. But one really big reason it may also have failed is because of this:

~ "Burn books! This is what I heard the majority of voters say. It sickened me."

~ "The vote is in; I live in a selfish community with little thought to investing in the future....How many average-income voters who chose to avoid the annual library tax will spend the same amount to go to one college football game, one concert, one Saturday night dinner out, or a single tank of gasoline for their SUVs?" [Managed to get an SUV dig in there. Nice.]

Those letters to the editor have been representative of many of the library tax supporters for the past month. "Either you vote yes, or you are a [fill in insult here]."

Gee, wonder why it failed so bad?

Adventures in Dishwashing

My kitchen sink is in front of a window that looks out to my backporch. On my backporch by this same window is my garbage can.

Just now I was doing some Sunday night dishwashing. Dishwashing is quite possibly my least favorite chore to do, so I have accumulated a few too many dirty dishes. Tonight however I feel proactive, and am doing them.

So I'm at the sink, hot water running over a glass I'm rinsing out, absorbed by that all-encompassing blankness you find yourself in when engaged in a repetitive mind-numbing chore, when I glance up, and instantly jump back maybe five feet in surprise.

Whoa, what the...?!

Not two feet away from where I was washing dishes a possum is waddling along on my window ledge, oblivious to me just on the other side of the glass. My garbage appears to be what he is interested in.

He's an ugly thing: naked rat tail, matted gray fur, dumb beady eyes. Coons are clever little critters, but not possums.

My heart stops racing, and a bit of embarrassment creeps in at getting scared by one of God's less brilliant but harmless creations. So I do what I figure I must do about the situation.

I post about it. My typing fingers are currently pruned.

LSU = Rudy Giuliani?

Are you a political nerd? Are you a football nerd? If yes on both, check out this piece from Ivan Maisel at ESPN.com comparing the race for the college football national championship with the presidential election.

Some good stuff.

Are You a Delaware Racist?

This is the official policy of the University of Delaware, from the school's mandatory Office of Residence Life Diversity Education Training:

"A RACIST: A racist is one who is both privileged and socialized on the basis of race by a white supremacist (racist) system. 'The term applies to all white people (i.e., people of European descent) living in the United States, regardless of class, gender, religion, culture or sexuality. By this definition, people of color cannot be racists, because as peoples within the U.S. system, they do not have the power to back up their prejudices, hostilities, or acts of discrimination….'"

Let's apply that logic:

Racist:
Bill Clinton
David Duke
Dolphin
Aunt B
Any white person currently married to someone of a different race
The Beastie Boys
Adolph Hitler

Not Racist:
Louis Farrakhan
Cynthia McKinney
Any black person who beats someone up because they are white.

The problem is this type of thinking (besides being horribly insulting, broad brushed, simplistic, and likely to inflame racial tensions when they need not be) is that it by definition equalizes the vilest racist with a caucasian of the most magnanimous attitude towards other races. It takes a word, Racist, and stretches its definition so far that the term no longer really has a meaning.

It just doesn't pass a basic common sense test. But it does bring to mind that great quote of Orwell: "One has to belong to the intelligentsia to believe things like that: no ordinary man could be such a fool."

PS: I want to emphasize that these are not the words of a professor in a class, or the opinions expressed in a paper. While I strongly disagree with them, college is about the exchange of ideas, so I have no problem with these ideas being defended by those who choose to do so.

Which, when you think about it, makes this policy that much worse. It is the university telling its students, "This is what you will think about race relations, and you will like it."

Update: My Blog-Fu must be weak. The University of Delaware has already cancelled this. Too many people getting word about it apparently. The letter announcing the termination of the plan here.

Picking at the Entrails, Digital Nicotine Style

The Bombay Co. is going out of business, and will be closing all its American stores. That is sad news for those involved with the company.

I, on the otherhand, just bought my house back in May, and am still in need of some furniture.

So, like a buzzard feasting on the rancid remains of some hapless possum struck by a pick-up along a country highway, I will descend and gorge myself upon the bankruptcy-induced clearance prices. Oh, it will be grand.

Other people's economic loss will be my new entertainment system.

Update: Got all excited over nothing. I didn't see anything I really wanted, and most stuff now is only 20% off, so I'll wait... circling.