Stroll Through The Blogroll

Graphics credit Skippy, concept credits Skippy and Jon Swift

A stroll through our blogroll takes lots of time and energy, as we usually try to read everything we plan to link to carefully. Lately, it's been difficult to be careful, as we're chock full of nice, dozy pain meds which make us see cats in hats climbing wires up to the balcony. (??) However, we did manage to get this long-awaited task done today, so join us for a stroll, won't you please?

• Swanksalot at B12 Solipsism offers a few interesting bookmarks for your reading pleasure.
  
  
• Buck Batard at Bad Attitudes notes the recent conservative reaction to Sarah Failin as exemplified by Kathleen Parker.
  
  
• NEW The Saint at Blue Tidal Wave may temporarily disappoint us with the news that Gonezales is not facing a prison term for his shenanigans, but soon cheers us up with the heartening news that Karl Rove, at least, is looking at criminal charges.
  
  
• NEW Brown Man at Brown Man Thinking Hard is a wonderful new discovery for our little corner of blogtopia, and we choose to announce his existence with this great post on racial comity.
  
  
• Ron at CenterFace calls Oldy McMoldy on his "earmark" crap and eviscerates his debate performance. Yes!
  
  
• Dyre42 over at Dyre Portents has an action item for those of you who feel strongly about giving medical care and training to those who need it.
  
  
• The Station Agent over at Ice Station Tango rips Condi Rice a few needed apertures based on her lying weaselly performance over the past eight years and her long-delayed admission of this Misadministration's role in torture.
  
  
• Man Eegee at Latino Politico speaks to voters in Arizona. Gracias, Manuel!
  
  
• Miss Welby posts about Italian artists and art.
  
  
• Nelson, over at NGBlog, has a few things to say about local legislation on gay rights.
  
  
• NEW Patriot Missive has a few things to say about the Veep debate.
  
  
• Seventh Sister over at Shimoda's Dream has some nice pictures on the anti-Palin rally in Alaska, and some biting commentary to boot. Check out the more recent post on fine al-fresco dining. Bitch wine? We're there.
  
  
• Abel Pharmboy has a very nice post for the chemistry-oriented, chocolate-oriented, and plain old consumer-goods-contamination-worrywarts over at Terra Sigillata. Pls to read.
  
  
• Pauline, over at West Africa Wins Always, announces the festivities that mark the end of Ramadan and posts her usual beautiful pictures for all to see.
  
  
• Welcome back to our friend Jassalasca Jape, who disappeared as a result of Firefox updating itself and wiping out all our former bookmarks!
  
  
• Judge Chief Charly Hoarse, over at Zippidy Doo Da, mocks the Republican solution to the financial problems created by the Republicans, and offers a far better option instead.
  
  
• As always, we'd like to call attention to the sterling work done by Black and Missing but Not Forgotten;
  
  
• We remind you that Pretty Bird Woman House offers sanctuary to Native American women victims of domestic violence and often has action items in which they could use your help;
  
  
• And we'd like to remind you to visit School For The Girls, where Rebecca, always ingenious, has come up with a great new way to help further women's rights in Kenya. Someday, Rebecca will be a great and famous leader in her nation and in the world, and you'll be able to say you knew her when.

La Casa de Los Gatos thanks you for your kind attention. Come back soon, and if you have anything to tell us, you know where the comments are.

To all our Muslim friends, best wishes for the end of the fasting for Ramadan, and let the feasting begin! To all our Hindu friends, Diwali is around the corner. May you live in the blessed state of light, which banishes darkness and ignorance. Whatever your belief, faith, religion, may good things comfort you in these troubled times. Don't forget to check your voter registration and urge your family and friends to do the same. Come November 4, vote! And hopefully, your vote will be for Barack Obama.

Stumble It!

Stroll Through The Blogroll

Concept credits skippy and jon swift, graphics credits skippy

La Casa de Los Gatos begs your indulgence in that recent health issues have kept us from our weekly stroll through the blogroll. Nevertheless, in honor of B.A.D. (Blogroll Amnesty Day, see here for details), we assemble cane and pain meds and hobble gimpily through the blogroll, casting our eyes about for gems.

• Badtux has his analysis of the current economic situation, please take your psychoactive meds before reading. For the record, we think he's spot-on.
  
• Benny wants to tickle your funnybone with the comedosphere's reaction to the RNC. Ouch!
  
• Over at Casa de Charlotte della Luna, Charlotte has information for those of you who would like to help people affected by Hurricane Gustav. Thanks to Color of Change for spearheading this, and to the always resourceful and great-hearted Charlotte for spreading the information.
  
• DeRosaWorld sums up the Republican ticket very candidly. Check out the main page for a look at Darth Evil himself.
  
• Heywood Jablome at Hammer of Teh Blogs has his take on the RNC, bonus, an excellent explanation of that strange building in McCain's slide show, my friends.
  
• Sungold, over at Kittywampus, discusses Palin's special-needs kid from the viewpoint of two mothers of children with special needs;
  
• Ron Chusid, over at Liberal Values, tells us (to our great surprise) that Faux News as good as called Oldy McMoldy a liar in public. Will wonders never cease?
  
• Mike the Mad Biologist takes a peek at Palin's wingnut fundie church. Oh, dear! Compared to this shit, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright was a mere squib.
  
• Slim, over at No Fish, No Nuts, has important information up on Hurricane Gustav, for those of you who would like to help;
  
• Jayhawk would like you to know what's on his mind about Johnny McNuts, over at On My Mind;
  
• Queers United, your source for all news LGBTQ, has a question to vex your mind with. Having recently read two books on transgender individuals, we highly recommend you visit and think some.
  
• Friend and fellow-blogger Batocchio, over at Vagabond Scholar, has his delightful reminder of the elephant's ass in the room at the RNC;
  
• Scott and s.z., two of our favoritest bloggers, do teh funneh so well, we can't link to just one page. Go look at the whole site. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll wonder how s.z. manages to rescue so many kittehs while aptly skewering the rightwingnut loonies of the world. As for Scott's poor back — it'll have to wait till the kittehs are done with the chair. Yes, sirree, it's a World o'Crap out there.

And today we have a special feature from a hitherto unknown (to us only, surely) blogger.

A very insightful and moving discussion of the RNC and race can be found over here. The writer, who goes by the name of The Wolf, has his own blog here.

La Casa de Los Gatos thanks you for your kind attention! Many more gems are available from the fine blogs on our blogroll, so do, please, take the time to go visit. Till the next stroll, adios!

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Stroll Through The Blogroll

Graphics credit skippy, concept credit skippy and Jon Swift

Once again, La Casa de Los Gatos requests the pleasure of your company on our stroll through our blogroll, where we look for interesting posts on issues that we haven't covered recently.

• BAC, over at Yikes! has a great idea for a little Congressional recess activism;
  
  
• Pauline over at West Africa Wins Always posts an endearing photo of a young man who wants to be a model. Handsome fellow. We wish him success.
  
  
• Batocchio, over at Blue Herald, posts us a regular feature called Right-Wing Cartoon Watch that we highly recommend. Last week's offering. Complete with detailed debunking.
  
  
• DJ over at The Snafu Principle has some nice petitions, videos, and links up for Petition Day.
  
  
• Kel, over at The Osterley Times, posts an interesting article about the suicide of Bruce Ivins and the whole anthrax terrorism scare.
  
  
• Chris, over at The Great Endarkenment, reminds us that July 30 is Falafel Day in celebration?? of Bill O'Lielly.
  
  
• Rotus found a funny; check it out at his blog.
  
  
• And One Fly, over at Outta The Cornfield, found a mad.
  
  
• Shaun Mullen, over at Kiko's House, has a very interesting post on terrorism. Must-read.
  
  
• Faded over at House of the Rising Sons has a post on LaVena Johnson, who was murdered in Iraq. The Army and the government have engaged in a massive cover-up on the circumstances of Johnson's death. Read it and weep.

This has been your stroll through the blogroll. La Casa de Los Gatos thanks you for your attention.

Stumble It!

Stroll Through The Blogroll

Graphics credit Skippy, concept credit Skippy and Jon Swift

Pootling around the blogroll, we find that some have taken a hiatus, or ceased blogging altogether. Or maybe it's just that it's summer and not everyone's a gimp. Disirregardless, as we say in the better schools, it's time for a rundown of the buzz on our blogroll.

• Over at All Spin Zone, Steven Reynolds notes Bob Novakula's attempts to acquire a hood ornament;
  
  
• Fixer at Alternate Brain tells it to Chuck Schumer (Dummkopf-NY) like it is;
  
  
• Jerome Doolittle displays his Bad Attitudes by remarking on how swiftly Caligula Jr. is abandoning all pretense of cowboying. Remember his good buddy Vicente Fox, who called him a "windshield cowboy?" The pathetic little creep is terrified of horses.
  
  
• Bukola, over at Being Bukola. Bravely. gives us a primer on Nigeria. Check out her other posts on life in Nigeria wherefrom she has recently returned.
  
  
• Remember Johnny McAncient's whining about how the NYT wouldn't publish his rebuttal to Senator Obama? Well, our good buddy Chuck, over at Chuck for ... substantially reproduced the piece &mdash and then took his scalpel to it. Nicely carved for your enjoyable consumption.
  
  
• Our good buddy Stephen, over at Drinking Liberally in New Milford, gives Chris Shays a taste of Teh Trademarked Bat o'Clue, and no one deserves it more.
  
  
• r@d@r, over at ex-lion tamer, does a very satisfying rant on the stupidity of parents who take young children to unsuitable movies.
  
  
• Over at I'm Jus' A Lil' Dizzy, Dizzy Dezzi talks about the MySpace suicide, and makes good sense. Enough nannyism. A civil suit may be called for, but a criminal prosecution would probably be ineffective and a waste of taxpayer money.
  
  
• The Earth-Bound Misfit has some wonderful ideas on interesting things you might want to do to Skeletor Chertoff (WHY does that asshole still have a job?) or Bybee, he of the "vigorous interrogation" school of thought. Bonus excellent post, or, hell, just read the whole goddamned blog. Especially if your tastes run to aviation and mechanics.
  
  
• We've been slack with our science posts, so we ambled over to Mike the Mad Biologist's looking for fodder, but he's gone one better: a post on Social Security and communication that qualifies as a must-read.
  
  
• Acallidryas has a hilarious post on the PUMAs over at Moue Magazine.
  
  
• nunya, over at politickybitch, has an interesting post on Uighurs and events in China.
  
  
• Seinlife has a post up on the goddamned sugarcane plantation proposed for Kenya.

That's it, folks, thanks for coming along!

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Quote of the week

Possibly even of the year:

"One of the things that I will leave behind is a multilateralism to deal with tyrants, so problems can be solved diplomatically," he [Gee Dumb!ya, who else? Ed.] said.

Response of a lifetime:

That iconoclastic take didn't convince everyone present. "The man's going to be remembered as a blithering idiot," said a distinguished British journalist [...].

Thanks to Maru over at WTF Is It Now?!? for the discovery.

As reported in Time magazine.

Brilliant photoshoppery also stolen, er, borrowed from Maru

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B.A.D. Stroll Through The Blogroll

Concept credit skippy and Jon Swift, graphics credit skippy

We haven't been as diligent lately about promoting our blogbuddies, apologies to all. Between parental illnesses, one's own illnesses, work on several projects, and the like, time's been in short supply. We like to read blog posts before linking to them, and that's a time commitment. So, on to the blogroll, friends, and devil take the hindmost:

• First up, our good buddy Rocky over at Alien Trucker remembers Katrina in the light of the flooding in the Midwest. Mercy. Rocky will be on hiatus briefly as he undergoes surgery for the spinal injury that disabled him. Show your love to our fellow-gimp by returning to his blog periodically to check that he's back in action. Go to his home page to check out his music selections.
  
  
• Seth, over at B12 Solipsism, has a show and tell on sidewalks. Learn something every day! Note, if you have B12 bookmarked, that he's moved his blog, so please rebookmark him. Seth also has some excellent music information, checkidout on his home page.
  
  
• Fearguth keeps the visual snark coming over at Bildungblog. Affectionately known as "Teh Art of Teh Caption," by us.
  
  
• One of our favourite bloggers, Chuck Butcher over at Chuck for ... has two posts that we like and recommend: One on Gitmo and one on Fighting Dems. Go, Chuck!
  
  
• DeRosaWorld serves up teh snark. Check out the clown face in that shot. No, we didn't spot it at first.
  
  
• We're happy to see our blogbuddy, Stephen Herron, back in form over at Drinking Liberally in New Milford, as he proves with this post on blogger arrests. If you don't know Stephen, he's one of our brave men and women in uniform who served his country well and lost his home to the subprime mortgage crisis engineered by the Coward and Liar-in-Chief and his service-avoidin' buddies. Happily, Stephen can turn the sourest lemon into good lemonade: he found another place in New Milford. Buy the man a beer, someone!
  
  
• belledame of Fetch Me My Axe takes it to the men who find themselves obliged to tell women how they feel. About rape.
  
  
• Heywood, over at Hammer of the Blogs, applies the hammer to Fredo.
  
  
• We confess to an exceeding weakness for Henry, of Henry's Travels. These posts had us roaring with uncouth laughter.
  
  
• Dammit! Sungold over on Kittywampus reminds us that we missed Female Desire Week. Mmmm, them desirable females! Take a look at what they desire back.
  
  
• Brad Jacobsen at MediaBloodhound points out the recent failings of our mainstream media in a heh, biting, post.
  
  
• Another blogging buddy, Pygalgia, is having internet connectivity problems, as in, problems getting the wherewithal to afford the internet connection. So please, to keep the Friday boobie thing going, if nothing else, drop by and express a little support, eh?
  
  
• Kenyan feminist Rebecca blogs over at School For The Girls about her recent visit to a mental hospital. She's a courageous little trooper. Go by and see what she's doing to make the lives of Kenyan women better.

That's today's roundup, folks! We'll try to do a couple more this week to make up for our sad neglect of our blogging comrades. We note that a great many of them seem to be on hiatus for various reasons. If they do not return, we'll take them off our blogroll, but for now we continue to hope. Only by making a community of all our voices can we find the wisdom of the commons and share learning. This is a tool that benefits all who use it whether they come to sip a little or stay to share the feast.

La Casa de Los Gatos thanks you for your attention, and hopes you will return often!

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LGBTQ: An Activist Addition To The Blogroll

La Casa de Los Gatos welcomes Queers United to the blogroll and thanks them for this very interesting post on the formation of the LGBTQ Caucus in the U.S. House of Representatives. The post links to all the LGBTQ Caucus members so you can thank them yourself, and includes such progressive stalwarts as Fortney (Pete) Stark, Lynn Woolsey, Robert Wexler, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Niki Tsongas, Henry Waxman, and our very own dearly beloved Barbara Lee!

You rock, Reps! Fifty-two members, count them.

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B.A.D. Stroll Through The Blogroll

Today's stroll through the blogroll yields the following treasures:

• Rocky over at Alien Trucker reminds us what Memorial Day is about.
  
  We didn't post anything for Memorial Day this year. The death toll on all sides is just unacceptably high and too damned depressing. Here's last year's post.
  
  
• Over at Blast Off!, Sinfonian keeps America's Wang even safer for democracy by pointing out the divisive planned shenanigans for the coming weekend. Oy, vay!
  
  
• Chuck Butcher, over at Chuck for ... reminds us about the real issue with illegal immigration. Is this how we want to see ourselves?
  
  
• Over at ex-lion tamer, r@d@r talks about the beast that many of us might have felt chewing at our innards.
  
  Let's take our pills, no matter how much we hate to. Let's try not to hurt ourselves. It's hard enough having this invisible suffering etched into one's soft and vulnerable bits.
  
  
• Heywood, over at Hammer of the Blogs, has an instructional post on Nicaragua, the United Fruit Company, and various other pieces of the open-veined history of Latin America.
  
  
• Shaun, over at Kiko's House, has discovered something that is sure to make Michelle Malkin shriek in E above high C.
  
  
• Dizzy Dezi, over at I'm Jus' A Lil' Dizzy! has some choice words for the forced-birthers of Colorado. Ass-kicking at its best, yes!
  
  
• Sungold, over at Kittywampus, has some thoughts about the Catholic Church's response to the ordination of women as priests.
  
  
• Litbrit gives you the background to Shaun's beautiful photograph.
  
  
• And Busted Knuckles, over at Ornery Bastard, has some news that you need a big drink to digest. FUBAR, he sez, and I believe him.

This has been your stroll through the blogroll. La Casa de Los Gatos thanks you for your attention, and craves your indulgence for the paucity of postings. We are happy to report a literary endeavour in the works, but work it is.

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B.A.D. Stroll Through The Blogroll

Graphic credit Skippy, concept credit Skippy and Jon Swift

Sufferin' succotash! It's too hot to sleep! Let's take a cool, breezy stroll through the blogroll and see what treasures our fellow-bloggers have for us, shall we?

• The Crone Speaks about the TN GOP and their recent attack on Michelle Obama, in a strain similar to Virgotex.
  
  
• Libby over at Newshoggers tells us the war is over! Kind of. And, Webb's improved G.I. Bill passed. Yes!!
  
  
• Kel over at The Osterley Times points out something interesting about McLame's search for a VP.
  
  
• Michael Stickings, over at The Reaction, praises Hillary Clinton for stomping all over Pretzeldunce McNitwit's speech on "appeasing" Nazis. Hillary can kick ass like nobody else, and we're grateful that she's turning her talents on the true enemy, the Rethuglicans who have mired this great nation in a morass for nigh on eight years.
  
  
• Virgotext says goodbye to Robert Rauschenberg and reminds us that the "red state, blue state" meme just drives a wedge between people to make them more manipulable.
  
  
• We join with Emily0 over at wAitiNG foR doROthy in celebrating California's exit from the middle ages: GAY PEOPLE IS MARRY! She also has interesting stuff to say on the DSM and the classification of transgender folk. The link takes you to the latest update.
  
  
• Harold, over at WetMachine, talks about Comcast and other cable providers delaying BitTorrent packets, reviving my inner geek.
  
  
• flawedplan over at Writhe Safely tells us about mental health issues in their home state. Eye-opening.
  
  
• Dr. Zaius, over at Zaius Nation brings us pearls of wisdom from ... Batman and Robin?

Stumble It!

B.A.D. Stroll Through The Blogroll

Graphics credit Skippy, concept credit Skippy and Jon Swift

La Casa de Los Gatos invites you along on a commemorative B.A.D. stroll through the blogroll. For those who don't know, here's an explanation of B.A.D. (Blogroll Amnesty Day).

What have we here?

• First off, we have Alan, over at Blogging Out Loud, saying DO Tell! It's Gay Day over at Alan's, commemorated with celebratory snark.
  
  
• Next up, Chuck has a thoughtful post on Hillary Clinton and the election from here on out. As a loyal Democratic activist, he has a keen understanding of the party rules and procedure, which he reveals in a response to a commenter. He follows up with a post on Bill Clinton's planned visit to Baker City. Don't forget to update us afterwards, Chuck!
  
  
• Over at DrugMonkey, DM him/herself talks about the recent drug bust at SDSU. A clear demarcation between the happy substances we'd all like to see more available and the large-scale criminal endeavour of making mucho moolah offa the happy substances we'd all like to see more available.
  
  
• Over at Latino Politico, Man Eegee talks about the femicide that is occurring on our southern borders in a movie review, complete with links. Gracias, compadre, this is a subject that is very important and very much overlooked.
  
  
• MediaBloodhound has a fine post up on the mainstream media and their propagandizing of the electorate. The focus is mostly on the presumptive Democratic nominee, but there's plenty to be said (and we believe Shakespeare's Sister is saying it) about the misogyny the press flacks have directed at Senator Clinton.
  
  
• Brandy over at Moue Magazine talks about the power of words, illustrating the concept with an excellent post about an advertising campaign capsized by poor choices. We don't agree with the etymological analysis, but certainly with the political one.
  
  
• Nunya, the PolitickyBitch, asks a question that's been bugging us for forty years or more.
  
  
• 'Nucks, over at OrneryBastard, lays one upside Cindy "Tax returns are for little people!" Cougar.
  
  
• Batocchio has an excellent post up over at Vagabond Scholar about liberalism. Two opposable thumbs up. Checkidout.

This has been your stroll through our blogroll. La Casa de Los Gatos thanks you for your attention.

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B.A.D. Stroll Through Teh Blogroll

Graphics credit Skippy, concept credit Skippy and Jon Swift

Recent weeks have found La Casa de Los Gatos working furiously to prepare a first draft of a murder mystery. Sadly, this has meant ignoring our wonderful blogroll, and thank you fellow bloggers for pointing this out.

So we're doing a quick stroll through the blogroll today to bring you some choice tidbits. It takes time because we feel obliged to read what people say before linking to them, having been roundly thwacked for linking approvingly, once, to a post that some interpreted as misogynistic. For which, Apostate, we publicly apologize.

At any event, what doings, fellow-bloggers? Let's see:

• Over at 13 Martyrs, Rob has so many good posts about various things we've been peripherally following but too busy to blog about: Jeremiah Wright, Israel, Disneyland-in-Baghdad,immigrant labour in Saudi. It is to thoroughly enjoy, in a mind-expanding sort of way, sorry, we can't single out one of these excellent posts. Just read them all to learn more about these various topics and a part of the world you may never visit or otherwise get to know.
  
  
• Richard Blair, over at All Spin Zone, has a wonderful post up on Cyclone Nargis which may have claimed 25,000 or so lives in Burma. He does an excellent job of chronicling the disaster, including linking to NGOs that are trying to assist the devastated Burmese people. A million curses on their military dictators, may they only suffer jungle rot of their naughty bits unto death. ASZ is also doing a fundraiser, so if you have the wherewithal, you might consider support.
  
  
• Over at B12 Solipsism, Sir Swanksalot covers &mdash or uncovers &mdash Indiana, highlighting a certain Indiana Republican that we longed to hold up to ridicule. Blame the exigencies of creative writing for our lapse, and kudos to Sir S. for nailing the sod.
  
  
• We admit it: as much as we strive to cover misogyny worldwide, there are some stories we simply can't bear to discuss because the level of despair they create in us is more than our psych meds can handle. So we give kudos to fellow-blogger mattbastard for this blistering post on the revolting misogyny in the Congo and the indifference of the world to the plight of Congolese women.
  
  
• Blogger ConnecticutMan1 over at Drinking Liberally in New Milford brings us some good news for a change about the mortgage crisis. As one of its early victims, he's had a tough time. It really puts a big knot in our shorts that we send people out to die based on lies and turn our faces away when they're underpaid, overworked, cheated, shortchanged, fucked over, and kicked in the nuts. Somebody find McCain's shriveled pair and tie a knot around them till he agrees to sign the updated GI Bill? Congrats Stephen, aka ConnecticutMan1, and best wishes to you and your family!
  
  
• TheStationAgent over at Ice Station Tango directs us to The Young Turks' compilation of fundie nutbag Pastor Hagee/John McCain's greatest hits. Thanks, fella!
  
  
• Good grief. Sungold, over at Kittywampus, gives us a much-needed earful about schmucks and sexual harrassment in Ohio politics.
  
  
• DJ, over at the s.n.a.f.u. principle, posts a commemorative Mission Accomplished Gee Dumbya excoriation that is a delight to read.
  
  
• Speaking of the mortgage crisis, Emily1 over at wAitiNG foR doROthY has a brilliant solution to all those deserted, foreclosed homes that should reduce the crime rate as well.

This has been your stroll through our blogroll. La Casa de Los Gatos thanks you for your attention!

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War: Telling It Like It Is

Fellow-blogger and esteemed compadre Chuck Butcher over at Chuck for ... lays out very clearly exactly what war is.

We highly recommend you read it. Better yet, go find every warmongering service-dodging conflict-humping Yellow Elephant you know, tie them to a chair and read it to them in cycles. Preferably, accompanied by illustration.

Chuck pulls no punches, so don't read immediately after a meal. On the other hand, this excellent post could serve a dual function as a diet aid.

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Cats: The Felinquents' Tailsles

La Casa de Los Gatos has long delighted in naming its occupants well. We've had Mephisto (named after that brilliant movie starring Klaus-Maria Brandauer, one of our favourite actors); Faridah Peeples (aka Perdita, Freedie, and Belle); Ramon Rivera, who claimed to be related to Diego, and was quite the artist of shadowdance; George Footlet Mewling, who was one of Fu Ti's tiger-striped kittens; and many many more.

The current felinquents-in-residence came by their names honestly, and in return for other feline tales, we have promised to post their names and origins. Listed by age, our felinquent count is:

Cootest Boy

• Bandicoot, our big fat fluffy black-and-white mostly Maine Coon boy.
  
  Bandicoot was born (a few seconds before his brother Zingiber) on Thanksgiving Day to a very very young prima gravida calico. At the age of three months, he was already almost as big as his dear sweet little Mama, who lived with a very nice lady named Melanie. You can see why we disapprove of teenage pregnancy. He's a charming, sweet-natured, easygoing fellow, very gregarious, well-known to the neighbours whom he used to visit fairly regularly. He never fights with other cats, preferring to drop down onto his ample belly and watch the more aggressive among them curiously. He also thinks mice are very entertaining, although some of them have died of fright when he sits down to watch them very earnestly. He's never tried to hurt another living thing.
  
  Bandicoot got his name in honour of our best friend's mother. Whenever her children were particularly difficult, she would refer to them as "a bunch of bandicoots." Bandicoots are large, rather pestiferous rodents native to Asia. Bandicoot earned his name by attempting art projects on the black toilet floor that involved vast quantities of shredded toilet paper, running water, and much dedicated patting. He also attempted to console us during the worse periods of our life by bringing into our home (and often depositing in our shoes) enormous black eucalyptus borer beetles.
  
  Sometimes he's just referred to as "Bandicute." Which he is. Pestiferous, but very cute.
  
  Zingiber, practising for the Sleeping Olympix
  
  
• Zingiber, Bandicoot's younger brother, is an enormous red striper. His Mama's nice human named him Ginger, which is so dreadfully prosaic! We promptly renamed him Zingiber Officinale, in honour of one of our favorite cooking ingredients.
  
  Zingiber was a twofer deal with his brother. We didn't want him because, cute as he was, the first time he laid eyes on us, he emitted a horrendous shriek, ran howling into the bedroom, dived headfirst behind the bed where he got stuck head-down, with his fat little legs frantically kicking, and proceeded to accompany our entire visit with not-entirely-tuneful random frightening shrieks and yowls. We thought, "Bugger me blind," as we're wont to do, "we're not taking that little psychocath into our life!"
  
  However, the nice lady made it clear that it was either two of them or none at all, and we really did like Bandicoot. So we took Zingiber. He repaid our kindness by shrieking nonstop in the cat carrier (in which he also peed quite plentifully upon his poor pissed-off &mdash and pissed-on &mdash brother) the entire way home. We nearly ran off the road and into a tree twice because he was making such terrible noises. And, we had a friend with us who was holding his cat carrier and trying to calm him. Fat chance.
  
  He hasn't changed much. He still hides under the bed, no mean feat for a 20+ pounder, whenever anyone comes to the house. He shrieks nonstop whenever he's placed in the car. He does all he can to lacerate anyone within reach of his cat carrier. He's earned a red tag on his file at the vet's for attacking various vet techs as well as the Good Doctor himself. Fortunately, being a Cat Of Little Brain, he promptly forgets what the carrier is until the next time he gets locked in it, whereupon he shrieks loudly and unceasingly again. We had to buy him a steel-reinforced cat carrier because he tore the cardboard one (which had seen service for three cats of long lives) to shreds and almost strangled himself by getting his head stuck halfway out of it.
  
  He is, however, the most affectionate cat in the world (if not the brightest bulb in the chandelier). He loves his hoomins, and always wants to sleep with his head on someone's shoulder. He licks noses and faces and pats cheeks with his paw.
  
  He and his brother came to live at La Casa de Los Gatos on Valentine's Day.
  
  Gustav (rear) believes Bandicoot is his mother
  
  
• Gustav the PsychoKitty from Hell was named by a relative. We're innocent.
  
  Gustav has a very very sad story. He was the victim of abuse as a kitten. It pretty much started before his birth, when the woman who took in his mother, but failed to get her spayed, decided she didn't want a pregnant cat and kicked her out to fend for herself. Greta (Gustav's mum) had her kittens in a ditch and some nasty hoomin poured something all over them and when a kind soul found them, ants were attacking the little kittens and their mother. The kind soul (our relative the Patron Saint of Cats) cleaned them off, took them home, and did all that was necessary to get them medical attention and subsequently found them all good homes.
  
  The home in which Gustav and Greta ended up was, apparently, not so good. The woman who took them had a boyfriend who didn't like cats and especially didn't like Gustav, who, quite honestly, is not very easy to like. We don't know what he did to Gustav but it surely included physical abuse, because even looking at that idiot makes him act like you're about to jump on him and beat him senseless.
  
  So we're very careful to treat him well even if he is a royal pain. He used to attack all the other cats without provocation, which can be very trying when they're all pretty good-natured kitties. He also pisses all over everything; screams loudly for no reason anyone can figure out; is quarrelsome, terrified, possessive, greedy, suspicious, watchful, pushy, and territorial.
  
  Living with the results of abuse requires extra kindness to rehabilitate the abused. We get our revenge by mocking him in sarcastic language. Fortunately, language is not one of Gustav's skills. We're pretty sure he knows he's being mocked, but he's not entirely sure how to respond.
  
  The first two years of his life here, we had him on tranquilizers because it got really tiresome trying to separate him from his intended victim of the moment. To his credit, he's never tried to attack us, although he did once cause some severe bleeding and infection thanks to our attempt to protect the tiny Gojira from his unearned wrath.
  
  Gustav is a Japanese bobtail, and we are happy to announce that he is doing very well these days, has learned how to play, learned that we mean him no harm and will never ever hit him or even raise our voices to him. Eejit.
  
  Madu and Gojira as babies
  
  
• Madu is the other red striper, although he's more buff-coloured than red.
  
  Madu is Indonesian/Malay for honey, and Madu is a real honey. Also a Cat of Little Brain (endemic to red stripers?), Madu was born in a friend's garden to another feral teenage mother, along with four other siblings. His mother was truly feral, and though we tried to keep her, she finally managed to escape. We no longer know where she is, although she hung around for a while, since Bandicoot regularly posts to Alt.Cat.Freefood, advertising La Casa de Los Gatos as a great place for ferals to score a little kibble and katnip.
  
  Madu has a long pointy face, with a long pointy schnozz, and very elegant long slender paws. He also has a purr you can hear a room away. Hobbies: sleeping, napping, resting, lying down, lazing, dreaming, musing, and killing small things. He's the best hunter (well, maybe Ramon Rivera had more range) ever, wiping out entire families of mice, rats, moles, voles, gophers, moths, flies, butterflies, and other small life.
  
  Unfortunately, he really likes to fight. He's quite the scrapper, but recently had the holy tar beaten out of him, probably by the neighbour's female cat who is a consummate bitch on wheels. Has anyone ever noticed that female cats are more territorial? Both our immediate neighbours have female cats and both those cats get into it all the time with other cats over territory.
  
  At any rate, the kid came home so full of holes we were afraid to let him drink water in case he leaked. He's better now, and seems to be less avid to go out looking for quarrels. That said, he's quite adventurous as well as stupid, never a good combination. We have seen him go all the way down the hill, down the road, and around the corner. Trying to keep him in is pretty useless. He has his maman's feral gene.
  
  Gojira, sometimes called the WahWah Petal
  
  
• Last, and definitely least, because she weighs in at a whole 6.5 lb or less, is the Princess Gojira Helen Wheels.
  
  So named because, in her misspent yoof, she would make a well in the bedclothes, in which she would hide and whenever her poor brother Madu came by she would rear up onto her hind legs like the mythical Japanese monster Gojira (Godzilla). Of course, her impression was ruined by the fact that, rather than roar, she emitted a tiny meep! or squeak! as she fell upon Madu and bit his arse. She's a gorgeous silver-gray, mostly Russian blue with the feathery-soft fur and "milkmouth." The fur around her mouth is a lighter shade of silver so that she looks as if she just finished a glass of milk.
  
  Helen Wheels was bestowed later in recognition of her superb attack skills, manoeuvrability, agility, grace, and tendency to bite anyone else (including us) in the arse. For no reason that we can ever figure out. This usually happens late at night just as everyone is getting ready to pass out for the night. Lately we've managed to convince her to restrict her attacks to an old towel and a bedroom slipper. Not before she ripped an enormous hole in the drapes, though. What a pest.

For Christy of MeeraKai and Wicket.

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B.A.D. Stroll Through The Blogroll

Graphics credit Skippy, concept credit Skippy and Jon Swift

Despite a cold, we just had to go look around at what people are saying. Here's some of what we found:

• Slim, at No Fish, No Nuts, has an apt comment on the Great Debate.
  
  
• Ted got up on his Soapbox to complain about a few things, and we agree with most of them.
  
  
• Manila Ryce over at The Largest Minority has a list of journalists imprisoned by the U.S. Government. WTF?
  
  
• Michael over at The Reaction posts about equal pay for equal work and gives us a link to do something about it.
  
  
• Batocchio, our Vagabond Scholar, has some interesting observations on the job market, outsourcing work, and immigration status.
  
  
• For your amusement, OneFly over at Out of the Cornfield posts a story about Willy the felonious glove-loving cat.

This has been your stroll through our blogroll. La Casa de Los Gatos thanks you for your attention and snivels off to bed.

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B.A.D. Stroll Through The Blogroll

Graphics credits Skippy, concept credit Skippy and Jon Swift

It's a stroll through the blogroll, people. Guess what we found today!

• Seth, over at B12Solipsism tells us how wonderful the Florida of Gee Dubya's bruvver is in re: corporate welfare! Geez, wotta buncha pricks.
  
  
• Badtux snarks about yet another thing we both find annoying about Hillary Clinton's campaign. Sorry if that bugs ya, folks.
  
  
• Kyle, over at Comments From Left Field, points out what we like best about Obama: he's pragmatic. Folks, we can't change it all today. We can figure out what we can change that everyone will agree on, and try for the rest tomorrow, day after, next week, and next term.
  
  Ya, we know we're supposed to link down, and CFLF has way more pointage than we do, but when ya find a good thing, ya link, o-tay?
  
  
• DeRosaWorld highlights Biden's kicking of Petraeus Ass, and adds some welcome commentary.
  
  
• Dyre, over at DyrePortents, wonders why (like the rest of us, fer feckin' crisake), John McInsane hasn't signed on to the modernization of the G.I. Bill, teh schmuck;
  
  
• MediaBloodhound announces a new feature: Totally Stupid Fucking Polls and their Totally Stupid Fucking Results! Checkidout. Don't hurt yourself larfingk.
  
  
• Great googly moogly. Monkeyfister tells us things are not looking so good in Memphis.
  
  
• Rebecca, over at School For The Girls, talks about how strong African women are.

This has been your stroll through our blogroll. La Casa de Los Gatos thanks you for your attention.

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2008 Elections: Hello?

Maru over at WTF Is It NOW? found the perfect election poster for John Senile McCain.

No, rly. Y'all have to go see it.

Okay, the headline of the post was also too fucking perfect, but whatever.

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B.A.D. Stroll Through The Blogroll

Graphics credit Skippy, concept credit Skippy and Jon Swift

We're preparing a lengthy post on Iraq for the Out of Iraq Bloggers' Caucus, which we will also crosspost here.

So, in the meantime, we will let other bloggers discovered through Blogroll Amnesty Day show their stuff. Thanks, fellow-bloggers, for your contributions to Blogtopia (y,Sctp)!

Today's featured blogaliciousness:

• Rocky over at Alien Trucker does a terrific roundup of the blogosphere's reaction to Petraeus' testimony about the occupation of Iraq;
  
  
• Alan, over at Blogging Out Loud, gives Lindsey Graham and Petraeus a boot up the fundament each, as only he can. Warning: no hot liquids near keyboard.
  
  
• Buzz Daly lays out clearly why John McCain is a schmuck. It's easy to talk trash about older working folks when you've got a rich wife to live off, innit, John?
  
  
• Chuck Butcher, over at Chuck For ..., has a message for alla youse voters. It might splash like a little cold water, but read it anyway. There is no place for a cult of personality in politics.
  
  
• Dave at Daveawayfromhome may be "just this guy, yaknow," but apart from the cutie modelling his tee shirt, he has some good criticism of the health plans outlined by the Presidential candidates, complete with links;
  
  
• Stephen, over at Drinking Liberally in New Milford, gives us a glimpse at how our Republican congresscritters decided to vote for Georgie's Little War;
  
  
• Fade, over at House of the Rising Sons, gives you some compelling reasons — including motivational posters — to vote;
  
  
• Deborah Hussein et cetera, over at Litbrit, posts a clip of the inimitable Frank Zappa describing today's political scene. No, rly.
  
  
• Susie Madrak at the Suburban Guerilla highlights the breakdown of the nation's infrastructure. A little bit of that war money would have paid to fix this and more.

Much as we'd love to blog on all these fascinating topics, we're only one person with many projects other than blogging. So our grateful thanks to our fellow-bloggers for their informative posts. This has been your stroll through our blogroll. La Casa de Los Gatos thanks you for your attention.

If you have wherewithal to spare for a good cause, check out Black and Missing but not Forgotten; Pretty Bird Woman House, a resource for Native American/First Nations women survivors of abuse; School for the Girls, where the indomitable Rebecca works to give poor and disabled Kenyan women education, financial assistance, and international exposure for their issues.

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B.A.D. Stroll Through The Blogroll

Graphics courtesy of Skippy, concept courtesy of Skippy and Jon Swift

We haven't been very ambulatory of late, so we'll have to make up for it with regular schlepping around the blogroll in search of the treasures we've been blessed with since Blogroll Amnesty Day.

Today's featured blog gems:

• Dr. Zaius over at Zaius Nation gives us the intelligent simian's discourse on Emperor Haile Selassie and the religion of Rastafari. An engrossing read.
  
  
• Over at West Africa Wins Always, Pauline tells us how rising energy costs impact food costs in a part of the world most of us ignore. Her photographs are stunning.
  
  
• Over at the s.n.a.f.u. principle, DJ captures perfectly what we've been thinking (but not saying) about the whole Web 2.0 phenomenon.
  
  We're not ashamed to admit that we actually worked on one of the first internet marketing projects ever (yes, that's how ancient we are) &mdash and heard all about how it was going to blow away brick and mortar and yadayadaya, fourteen (14) years ago.
  
  
• The Field Negro, over at his place, doesn't need our linky love, being a much bigger, famouser, and all-round kickass cooler blog. We're linking to his post about a black judge who is catching flak for kicking all the white folks out of his courtroom to lecture some nasty-ass juvies. Because we like what he has to say.
  
  
• The Barefoot Bum brings a true American hero to our attention, grateful thanks.
  
  
• Terry over at TerryFacePlace has the most amazing photos of an anti-war rally in San Diego???
  
  Hey, maybe those of us who want this war to be over are not alone, after all. Check out Wyanblog in Michigan, where some dedicated people have braved nasty weather weekly to make their regular ongoing protest against the war.
  
  
• BustedKnuckles, over at Ornery Bastard, tells Doug Feith where to stick it and &mdash like the concerned, helpful soul he is &mdash offers to show him how.
  
  
• Brandy, over at Moue Magazine, makes a good case for not seating the Florida delegates.
  
  
• Nunya, over at politickybitch, brings YET ANOTHER FUCKING HALLIBURTON RAPE CASE to our attention. Sorry for screaming. But seriously, what the fuck is it with Halliburton, open season on women? Rape as a hobby?
  
  
• Sungold, over at Kittywampus, does a simply brilliant job of stating the importance of reproductive rights. A must-read.
  
  
• The inimitable Distributorcap rips some significant poundage out of Darrell Issa (Repulsive-CAtbox), and a more deserving target we have rarely seen (outside of the Repulsive Party, that is). Schmuck is much too nice a term for Issa, who deserves to be booted into obscurity, if only for inventing the car alarm (just one of his many sins, really).

This has been your stroll through the blogroll. La Casa de Los Gatos thanks you for your attention.

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B.A.D. Stroll Through The Blogroll

Graphics credits Skippy, concept credit Skippy and Jon Swift

There's no keeping up with all the bloggy goodness out there, but we managed to cull a few high points from Blogtopia (y,Sctp!) today.

• Over at 13 Martyrs, Rob weighs in on the Jeremiah Wright non-issue with some interesting thoughts;
  
  
• Over at Alien Trucker, Rocky talks about his son, putting a very human — and heart-wrenching face on the cost of the conflict in Iraq;
  
  
• Black and Missing But Not Forgotten does yeoman work, keeping black women who are victims of domestic violence, runaways, kidnappees, or otherwise missing, in the public eye;
  
  
• Over at BlondeSense, PeterofLoneTree tells us that Israel has grounded fighter planes they bought from us because of formaldehyde contamination. Looks like we're not just trying to kill poor folks in NOLA. We're equal opportunity contaminators;
  
  
• Over at Casa de Charlotte della Luna, Charlotte tells us that Yanar Mohammad, Founder of the Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq (OWFI), will join an illustrious panel of speakers to discuss the situation of women in disaster zones. To be held in New Orleans on April 11th. She also has some gorgeous pictures to share, go look!
  
  
• Dave over at his place becomes yet another in the long line of people who have been shoved forcefully out of Hillary Clinton's camp and into Obama's — by Hillary.
  
  
• Over at Jonestown, two rants that rocked us;
  
  
• Over at School For The Girls, Rebecca chronicles with compassion the lives of poor girls and women in Kenya, and tries to change the outcome for them. A good global citizen. Drop by and say hi, and see if you can help at least one of the girls she writes about.
  
  
• And litbrit shares with us a piece from my favourite composer, Frank Zappa, while carving her initials on Exxon's bloated hide with a pointed wit and a noteworthy flourish.

This has been your stroll through the blogroll. La Casa de Los Gatos thanks you for your attention.

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B.A.D. Stroll Through The Blogroll

Graphics credits Skippy, concept credit Skippy and Jon Swift

Once again, we want to thank the inestimable Skippy and Jon Swift for coming up with this brilliant concept. Where we used to lurk in our surly corner of blogtopia (y,Sctp!), feeling curmudgeonly on our best days, we've now amassed a treasure trove of blogs &mdash it's getting hard to read them all, not that we're complaining!

Today's stroll takes us to:

• 13 Martyrs, who points out that John McInsane's loony preacher is seriously loony.
  
  Mainstream media, why have you abdicated your responsibility repeatedly by failing to examine McInsane's endorsers? First it was rabidly anti-Catholic Hagee, and when McInsane issued a weak denial, the lot of you swallowed that but ignored his replacement, Rod Parsley, the fundie wingnut who seems hellbent on World War III.
  
  
• Badtux, our snarky Penguin amigo, who points out what the media are failing to ask about the resignation of Admiral Fallon.
  
  
• Robert Stein, over at Connecting.the.Dots, who asks a question that has surely been on more minds than ours.
  
  
• belledame over at Fetch Me My Axe, who quotes Ellen Willis to illustrate the point that individual action is pretty ineffective when dealing with the juggernaut of oppression and disenfranchisement that we're all fighting, goddammit.
  
  
• Nate over at It all goes here, who has a wonderful executive retreat proposal for KBR, the Halliburton subsidiary that got $16 billion from the Treasury thanks to Dick "Dick" Cheney.
  
  
• Unconventional Conventionist over at Les Enrages, who has a message for those of us who might identify as sans-culottes;
  
  
• PSoTD, who has some interesting figures for you to look at.
  
  
• The Black Snob, who calls the Pity Party what it is, in elegant prose. Kicking ass with style. Must read.
  
  
• The Apostate, clearly our twin from the same egg, despite huge and probably insurmountable gulfs of age, religion (lack thereof, that is &mdash we were of the opinion that desi atheists were as rare as hen's teeth), cultural background, place of birth, and whoknowswhateelse, who manages to voice our thoughts about one Spitzer fellow, recently caught, as it were, with his pants down. She even got the chin.

This has been your stroll through the Blogroll. La Casa de Los Gatos thanks you for your attention.

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