Cat Photo Friday

Since I'm sure I'll be getting up right before I have to leave in the morning, I'm doing this tonight before I forget. Since there is a movement to devote Fridays, not to news and not to the craziness around us, to cats and their bliss-ed indifference to everything around them.

Here are my two lovelies - Otto is the orange and white kitty with all the pink toes and Tabitha is the little calico who loves the laps. She's sitting on my hubby's lap while we watch the Red Sox win the World SERIES!!! And now we're teasing Otto that there are naked photos of him on the internets.

In other news - Saturday was my one year Blogiversary! Yeah!

You say it's your birthday

well, it's my birthday too, yeah.

The big 33. There must be poker lingo for two 3s. It's gray outside and our car is covered with frost. Well, everything is covered with frost. We are going to go out to eat tonight and the ladies are taking me out to lunch today. Too bad there aren't many lunch choices up in Greenfield. I think I'm leaning towards Japanese. I hope you all have a lovely day. Personally, I'm going to try and do as little as possible.

My Hubby

It's rare that he'll listen to me when I tell him what to wear. But I guess I caught him a good mood. This is the night of our hot date. And before he shaved his beard because it was getting really itchy. He's doing his best male model pose. My goodness, he just makes my heart beat a little bit faster.

Yes, the photo is blurry - can you blame me?

Wolfpacks for Truth

in response to the latest Bush Cheney Wolf ad.

"Funny Joke" - WMD ad

Very powerful ad showing Bush joking about finding the WMD in Iraq. Asshole.

PIPA Study - most Americans misinformed

"The latest PIPA study is remarkable because it shows that public perceptions about Iraq, or at least about the threat it posed before the U.S. invasion, are lagging far behind what acknowledged experts have themselves concluded and whose findings have been reported in the mass media." (http://www.pipa.org/OnlineReports/Pres_Election_04/Report09_29_04.pdf)


75% believe Iraq was providing substantial support to al Qaeda.

"Despite statements by such officials as the Bush administration's former chief weapons inspector, David Kay; its former anti-terrorism chief, Richard Clarke; former chief United Nations weapons inspector Hans Blix, as well as admissions by senior administration officials themselves, a majority of the public still believes Iraq was closely tied to the al-Qaeda terrorist group and had WMD stocks or programs before U.S. troops invaded the country 13 months ago."

74% believe Bush favors including labor and environmental standards in agreements on trade.

http://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/200409/sins.asp

"Opposes incorporating labor and environmental standards into trade agreements."

72% believe Bush supports the treaty banning landmines.

"The United States, the world's largest contributor to humanitarian demining programs, has not signed the Treaty. Therefore, the ICBL decided to hold its global meeting in Washington, DC in early March to pressure the United States to ban antipersonnel landmines. To date, the Bush Administration has not made any policy statements on the landmines issue."

69% believe Bush supports the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.

"In its first six months, the Bush administration has been examining ways to escape permanently from an unratified international agreement banning nuclear tests, just as it has moved to scrap the Antiballistic Missile Treaty and has rebelled against a global warming pact that it believes would cripple American industry."

61% believe if Bush knew there were no WMD he would not have gone to war.

"(CBS) CBS News has learned that barely five hours after American Airlines Flight 77 plowed into the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld was telling his aides to come up with plans for striking Iraq - even though there was no evidence linking Saddam Hussein to the attacks. "

58% believe the Duelfer report concluded that Iraq had either WMD or a major program to develop them.

http://www.cia.gov/cia/reports/iraq_wmd_2004/Comp_Report_Key_Findings.pdf
"The main finding of the top US arms inspector for Iraq, Charles Duelfer, was that his team couldn't find any major weapons stockpiles in Iraq and that Mr. Hussein had not kept an active capability to resume his chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons program."

57% believe that the majority of people in the world would prefer to see Bush reelected.

"Over the summer, University of Maryland researchers asked citizens of 35 countries how they would vote between Bush and Kerry. The result? 30 of the 35 voted for Kerry.
Kerry won all but one European country polled."

56% believe most experts think Iraq had WMD.

"According to the Administration's handpicked weapon's inspector, Charles Duelfer, there is "no evidence that Hussein had passed illicit weapons material to al Qaeda or other terrorist organizations, or had any intent to do so."

55% believe the 9/11 report concluded Iraq was providing substantial support to al Qaeda.
http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20030723-064812-9491r

"The panel said it found "no credible evidence that Iraq and al Qaeda cooperated on attacks against the United States." "
"Bush, responding to criticism of Cheney's comment, said there was no evidence Saddam's government was linked to the September 11 attacks."

51% believe Bush supports the Kyoto treaty.

"As you know, I oppose the Kyoto Protocol because it exempts 80 percent of the world, including major population centers such as China and India, from compliance, and would cause serious harm to the U.S. economy. "

"I do not believe, however, that the government should impose on power plants mandatory emissions reductions for carbon dioxide, which is not a "pollutant" under the Clean Air Act. "

------------------------------------------------------

100 Facts about the Bush Administration

More than 1,100 US troops have been killed in Iraq due to a war that was based on lies. There was no connection between 9/11 and Iraq.

"The Bush Administration eliminated protections on more than 200 million acres of public lands."

"The Bush Administration gutted clean-air standards for aging power plants, resulting in at least 20,000 premature deaths each year."

"President Bush broke his promise to place limits on carbon dioxide emissions, an essential step in combating global warming. "

"Days after 9/11, the Bush Administration told people living near Ground Zero that the air was safe--even though they knew it wasn't--subjecting hundreds of people to unnecessary, debilitating ailments."

"The Bush Administration created a massive tax loophole for SUVs--allowing, for example, the write-off of the entire cost of a new Hummer."

"The Bush Administration said that even though the weed killer atrazine was seeping into water supplies--creating, among other bizarre creatures, hermaphroditic frogs--there was no reason to regulate it."

"Early this year, Congress once again blocked the Bush administration from handing the keys to Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge over to the oil industry. Both the House and the Senate rejected a Bush administration proposal to include projected revenues from oil and gas leases in the refuge in the fiscal year 2005 budget."

Please forward on to everyone you know. Obviously this information is not getting out there.

Apprentice

I'm not going to go into the play-by-play. I'm finding it a little boring. However, I have to say that I didn't get a really good look at Stacy's boobs tonight. They are big, but they weren't on show. I completely agree, based on what they showed us, that she needed to go. I never thought she would make it to the final round. She's very shrill and she talks way too much. I thought blond Jennifer did a good job and maybe she'll make it farther than most of the women. However, if you are clipping dogs' nails and they are YELPING! you MUST STOP!. Very, very, very bad. My dad is a vet and he will tell you that you can cause awful infections by making them bleed from their nail beds. She only made a couple of the bleed. AAAGHHH! Stop, already.

Sox!

Holy Crapola! Damon just hit a Grand Slam in the second inning! Sox are up by 6!!! C'mon Sox!

UPDATE: AAGGGHH! Damon hit another home run! Sox are now up by 7! I think he may be out of his slump!

Further UPDATE: And they WON! Incredible. Damon is so getting laid tonight. And if I weren't married, I'd be the first in line. Woo hoo!

Oh yeah, and UMass is probably on fire tonight. Literally.

And I don't even really like baseball. With the excruciatingly long innings and all the chew and spitting. However, the tight pants are nice as is all the ass smacking. Not unlike football in that sense.

Massachusetts

Yeah! Go Sox! Curt Shilling out there, heroically, pushing the Sox to Game 7! With a bleeding ankle! I'm not even really into baseball and I've stayed up to watch these games.

And, did you know that Massachusetts is again the smartest state in the union?

Good thing we moved out of California - they are ranked a pitiful #43.

Losing

So, Operation Shrink My Ass seems to be working so far. It's been 3 weeks since I had my thyroid medication upped, I started eating more water-based foods to fill me up (i.e.: soups with broccoli added, big salads with carrots and cucumbers, etc.), I'm going to the gym at least 3 times a week (doing at least 60 minutes of cardio) and I'm limiting alcohol to weekends (mostly). I've lost 4 pounds so far. It's really not so much the pounds but more the size of my ass. I can't fit into some of my favorite clothes and it's been bumming me out. I'd like to lose 10 pounds and see how I feel at that point. Plus, my mom gave me her extra exercise ball and I'm using it as much as I can - crunches, legs, arms.

Massachusetts

How to know you live in Massachusetts - all 12 televisions at the gym are tuned to the Sox/Yankees game.

Search Results

For the person who found my blog by searching for "has Bush any brains" - the answer is no.

Assholes

This slide show could not have said it better. Our country is being led by assholes.

Boobs

I've been looking at my website stats and lately, people have found my site by searching for:

stacy apprentice tits
little stacy apprentice boobs
apprentice stacy boobs

I guess I hadn't realized her boobs had a fan club. I'll have to pay more attention to them for you.

In other searches:

pictures of brains and gore
bush morse code blinking
bush debate blink
bush 's blinking

Sorry, no pictures of brains and gore on this site. However, there are theories as to why Bush was blinking so crazily at the debates. All three debates. One is the mysterious bulge on his back - if he is wired, one side effect of listening to someone tell you what to say is that you can't help blinking. Another is that he has had a stroke - just look at the video from the third debate - what is up with one side of his mouth? And yet another is that he's suffering from dry drunk syndrome. And yet another theory is that it is a medical device.

Why won't the White House tell anyone what it is?

Weekend

Well, this was my hubby's big homework weekend. So, I mostly left him undisturbed all day Saturday and most of Sunday. Except for when we went out on a hot date Saturday night to a local Argentinian restaurant. Absolutely yummy. I've been wanting to go there. Spanish guitar, good wine, yummy food. Lots of hand holding and love professing. And then yesterday, my parents needed help with wood - i.e.: filling their garage with wood for the winter - and I didn't want to disturb my sweetie's studying. So I went up and met my brother and his wife. Lots of throwing and swinging and bending and lifting. While talking politics. Good times.

At least it was a beautiful day - sunshine, leaves are gorgeous, etc.

Apprentice

Women are catty. Period. And these women look so immature. I seriously doubt any of them will win this.

Raj thinks Pamela should be fired. The men are excited because she was the last of the competition.

Cute John is the Mosaic Project Manager.

Man, the women are like hyenas - they keep finding the weakest and they all gang up on that person. This week it is Elizabeth. "Harder Core"? - Wow, Stacie - I predict you don't win this.

Avon Full Fashion Show? Cheesy.

Maria is Apex's Project Manager. Blah, blah, blah, home economics.

They get to choose designers? The men go with Ilsa and the women go with Darren.

Low end at high end stores?

Mosaic's designer is at Parson's School of Design - is she still in school? And then Kelly busts out the design drawings while Ilsa is in the bathroom. And the drawing looks good. All the guys are surprised. Kelly is really stepping up here.

Men picking out fabric and Caroline crying with laughter. Kelly is still picking up the slack and acting all authoritative. About fabric.

Um, Apex - you don't think you need to measure the models? Don't take the designer's word for this. The men get the measurements. Or, rather, they call the models up to get measurements but end up just flirting with them. Maybe they are looking for brownie points from Trump?

Did the men pick the wrong designer? Why did the women's designer appear to have all the clothing done in the morning? And where is the Trumpism for the evening?

Trump enters the fashion show to emperor music. Get over yourself, already.

They didn't really show enough for me to make an opinion. Other than it seemed like the men's line was more my taste.

Why are some of the men wearing sunglasses to the final money announcement? The men made $7735 and the women made an incredible $22060. Bad pricing by the men. The women get to go to a party with Lil' Kim and one lonely Cirque de Soleil gymnast.

Wes and Kevin were responsible for pricing. But Cute John left them with the task. And John, Andy and Keven are in the boardroom. Why Andy?

George likes Andy and Caroline likes John. But she says John made a lot of mistakes.

And John is out of there. "Too many bad decisions".

On a side note - I hate those inane Yoplait commercials: "Not as good as strangling you to death". Stop making non-different awful variations of this stupid commercial. I will NEVER eat Yoplait because of you.

Next week: teams are changing. Dogs. Exaggeration?

George W. Bush is a lying liar

I'm going to direct you to the dailykos.com website as they have the most information on all the lies of this debate.

Here's a prime flash from the past of W (and here's the video proof):

"Q: Mr. President, in your speeches now, you rarely talk or mention Osama bin Laden. Why is that? [...]

BUSH: ... I don't know where he is. Nor -- you know, I just don't spend that much time on him really, to be honest with you [...]

Q: Do you believe the threat that bin Laden posed won't truly be eliminated until he is found either dead of alive?

BUSH: As I say, we hadn't heard much from him. And I wouldn't necessarily say he's at the center of any command structure. And, you know, again, I don't know where he is.

I'll repeat what I said: I truly am not that concerned about him."

This weekend

So, this weekend was a bit of a test for us. We went down to my gorgeous, extremely intelligent sister's house to babysit her kids while she and her very funny (really, the funniest person I know) husband went on a hot date. With his parents. And his sister and brother-in-law. My niece is not known for falling asleep easily. We had been warned by both my mom and by my sister that she would come out of her room at least a couple of times.

So, it definitely helped that my niece and I had a mini dance party. And that she didn't take a very long nap because she was too excited about going princess costume shopping once she woke up. And that my nephew had soccer practice that day and that he didn't take a nap, either. And that we decided to have movie night - turn the lights off, snuggle up on the couch, etc. They both were in bed by 7:30. And asleep soon after. No nocturnal visits from my niece. We rule. ;)

We went apple picking the next day to what seemed like the only apple orchard/pumpkin patch in New York. Mass chaos. It didn't help that we got there mid-morning and that everybody and their brother decided to go apple picking as well.

Here's a picture of my lovely hubby climbing up to get the perfect apple:

Instacat

Very funny - Instacat's reaction to the second debate.

Dred Scott, Fourth Amendment

Since I had to refresh my understanding of the Dred Scott decision - I thought I'd share the sites I found very helpful.

And here's another:
"The Court ruled that Scott, a slave, could not achieve U.S. citizenship and therefore could not exercise the privilege of a free citizen to sue in federal courts. That should have been the end of the case, but then Chief Justice Taney and the other southern sympathizers on the Court hoped that a definitive ruling would settle the issue of slavery in the territories once and for all. They therefore continued on to rule that the Missouri Compromise of 1820 was unconstitutional since Congress could not forbid citizens from taking their property, i.e., slaves, into any territory owned by the United States. A slave, Taney ruled, was property, nothing more, and could never be a citizen."

From the debate:

"BUSH: Another example would be the Dred Scott case, which is where judges,
years ago, said that the Constitution allowed slavery because of personal
property rights.

That's a personal opinion. That's not what the Constitution says. The
Constitution of the United States says we're all -- you know, it doesn't
say that. It doesn't speak to the equality of America.

And so, I would pick people that would be strict constructionists. We've
got plenty of lawmakers in Washington, D.C. Legislators make law; judges
interpret the Constitution."

Wow, that's really profound. And completely incomprehensible. He can't even state what the Constitution of the United States says.

Here's more from the debate:

"FOWLER: President Bush, 45 days after 9/11, Congress passed the Patriot
Act, which takes away checks on law enforcement and weakens American
citizens' rights and freedoms, especially Fourth Amendment rights.

With expansions to the Patriot Act and Patriot Act II, my question to
you is, why are my rights being watered down and my citizens' around me?
And what are the specific justifications for these reforms?"

And, in reference to the question about the Patriot Act - I think a better question would have been: "Mr. President, what is the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution?"

"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."

Really put Bush on the spot. I bet Kerry knew the answer to that.

Second Debate

Well, we did make it to my sister's house for the debate. And drank every time Bush smirked or mispronounced something or Kerry pulled St. Louis or Missouri facts out of thin air. It was lovely. We all decided that Bush's crazy blinking was actually Morse Code signals to Karl Rove. blink, blink, blink: "Karl, I'm dying here, who is Kerry talking about?" blink, blinky, blink: "Karl! Is it Dreaded Scott or Dred Scott that has to do with abortion?". etc.

I thought Kerry killed Bush. But then you watch the news the next day and they all say Bush did fine. WHAT? What debate were they watching? Incredible.

Debate Tonight

If my hubby is willing, we might drive down to my sister's house tonight to watch the debate with her and her husband. They are about 2 - 2.5 hours south of here. Maybe we'll make it a drinking game. Every time "hard work" or "flip-flop" is uttered - we drink. Every smirk - drink. Etc.

In light of the debates - here is an article on the economy from the Washington Post.

"The government has to borrow an average of more than $1.1 billion a day to pay its bills, and it spends more on interest payments on the federal debt each year -- about $159 billion -- than it does on education, homeland security, justice and law enforcement, veterans, international aid, and space exploration combined. "

Apprentice

QVC

Now it's down to one Stacy and one Jennifer. That makes it easier.

Pamela is a freak. I hope she's the next to go.

They meet at UPS. Chris is the Project Manager of Mosaic and Pamela has to switch back to Apex where she'll be their Project Manager.

George is back (after a reputed salary dispute with Trump). Trump has respect for Pamela? They are all heading to PA for QVC. Live on tv. I'd love to see Pamela try to do that. Raj is exempt if the men lose.

2.5 hours on a bus together. Of course they only show the women on their bus. Pamela is swearing and being very condescending to the women. God, she's annoying. What a bitch. That is not how to get a group of women to respect you. Although this group of women are in a league of their own.

Trump's Advice of the Day: Pricing. You have to find the right price. He's on the phone pretending to talk to Bill Rancic in Chicago.

"It Works" is sort of a magic eraser sponge. Isn't that a Mr. Clean product? Pamela hands out tasks but gives none to herself. Other than master of everything.

The men choose a Delonghi grill - I want one of those. $71.25 is the price they chose. That's a very random number. I agree with Raj that it should be less than $70. But Kelly decides that it is going to stay at $71.25.

Pamela wants to price the pack of 30 sponges at $30? That's way too high. Wow - very rude. Telling Maria that she sucks by letting her overhear the walkie talkie conversation. Unbelievable. These women are so unprofessional. All they had to say to Maria was "tone it down a bit" - she looked nervous and she was trying to be energetic. Great way to bring the team together - make one of them feel lousy right before they go on the air.

Then men have the two cuties on air - can't remember their names. The blond and the one the gay men at the restaurant were fawing over last week. Good product - they did a great job selling. They expected to sell 800 units? But they only sold about 200.

Women not doing so well - they are selling the box for $27.23? What is that? Whatever happened to $19.99? That's way too expensive. And they sold about 650 units.

Pamela - I don't think you were a breath of fresh air to this team. Don't kid yourself.

Trump is projected over a big set of tvs. Women sold 659 units for a total of $17,944.57. The men sold a total of 252 units for a total of $17,955.00. The men win by about $10!

And the men get to go to the Arthur Ashe tennis stadium to meet John McEnroe and Anna Kournikova. Raj is hitting on Anna. Um, Raj - she's dating Enrique. Now she's daring him to return her serves. He's losing, can't hit anything back, and she wins the bet. She makes him run around the top of the bleachers in his boxer shorts. And then they all start hitting tennis balls at him. Kind of like American Gladiator. Only with tennis and underwear...

Pamela's at the house shooting baskets and she misses every one. Hee. The women are out scheming how to get rid of her while she works out. She's very cocky about her abilities.

Not a tie, Pamela. You lost. The price was too high. Pamela thinks it should have been higher. Doesn't sound like George or Caroline agree with her. Stacy and Maria are brought back to the board room with her.

It's probably Maria out of there. Or Pamela. Eh, or Stacy. I don't know which way Trump will go at this point. But since he talked about pricing - hopefully it's Pamela.

George thinks he's a good leader. Caroline doesn't think she priced the product well.

And Pamela's out of there because she doesn't have a good assessment of people. And she drives off with her nose in the air.

Next week: they have to design women's clothing? Cat fights on the cat walk. Count me in.

Cheney is a big, fat liar

Cheney during last night's debate: "The first time I ever met you was when you walked on the stage tonight."

OH REALLY??!!

And this:

During the debate: "CHENEY: The senator has got his facts wrong. I have not suggested there‘s a connection between Iraq and 9/11, but there‘s clearly an established Iraqi track record with terror."

Except when you do a simple search about this, here is what he has actually said:

On Thursday in Cincinnati, Ohio, Cheney described Saddam as a "man who provided safe harbor and sanctuary to terrorists for years" and who "provided safe harbor and sanctuary as well for al Qaeda."

In Wisconsin on Friday, he said the "al Qaeda organization had a relationship with the Iraqis."