Cats In Quotes, Cartoon Cats, and News… Not About Cats Unfortunately

I have studied many philosophers and many cats. The wisdom of cats is infinitely superior.

Hippolyte Taine

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This is not the first time I’ve put this upcoming viddy on this website.  It is however, the first time I’ve led off with it.  THE CAT CAME BACK.

This is a great cartoon.

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More fun with Goldman Sachs today.  Apparently in light of the SEC lawsuit here in the states, the EU has decided to jump in and investigate Goldman as well.  Apparently Germany’s Angela Merkel is asking for particulars in the SEC case, and Gordon Brown has asked for the Financial Services Authority, England’s equivalent to the SEC to begin an investigation of its own into Goldman’s business practices.

Goldman is already under investigation by the EU for what it did to hide problems with a swap deal it made with Greece that may have helped Greece cook the books and make things look better than they were…until their entire economy exploded.

Now, I understand that it takes two to tango, that anything done by Goldman had willing partners on the other end trying to make a buck or thirty five billion on it.  Goldman had no end of willing partners to work with to make all their deals, shady and otherwise.  But it is because they had a proven track record, that they had success, and they had done well for a great many people that they were given the chance to burn people’s money.

Which they then went out and did.  If they helped mangle the Greek economy, it was with the very major help of the Greek govt, who clearly have the lions share of the blame for their current crisis.  And the people who invested in Paulson on these synthetic CDO’s  weren’t walking in blind.  But what Goldman did was betray the trust their customers placed in them by taking too large a risk, too many risks, and too many bad risks that they should have known better than to make.

But those things said, they are just as much to blame in each case here, should the charges being leveled against them turn out to be true. I dislike Goldman because they are as dangerous as government run amuck, without the controls that we the people can put on government, which makes them, especially because of their size, perhaps more dangerous than out of control government.  They, and their ilk, MUST be reigned in, lest they take what little we have and squander that as well.

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When there was room on the ledge outside of the pots and boxes for a cat, the cat was there — in sunny weather — stretched at full length, asleep and blissful, with her furry belly to the sun and a paw curved over her nose. Then that house was complete, and its contentment and peace were made manifest to the world by this symbol, whose testimony is infallible. A home without a cat—and a well-fed, well-petted, and properly revered cat—may be a perfect home, perhaps, but how can it prove title?

Mark Twain, The Tragedy of Pudd’nhead Wilson

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In a story related to the Goldman One above, Former President Clinton said he got bad advice on derivative regulation when he was in office on the “This Week” program on ABC.  He said that Larry Summers and Robert Rubin gave him bad advice when they said that they didn’t need transparency because derivatives were expensive and sophisticated and only a handful of people would use them.

He says that he now sees where he went wrong, and says it was a mistake to not try to put through some kind of derivative regulation.  But with that he says that even if he had, the Republicans in charge of the congress would have stopped him.  In this he is correct, seeing that this was in fact the era of Phil Gramm and Enron, and there was very much an “anything goes” mentality on the subject of regulation. 

No one wanted to regulate back then Mr. President, and in truth you are right to blame yourself.   But it is at least good to see that you understand the breadth and depth of your mistake.   He does however add that Dubya let the SEC go and was just too lax.  The financial crisis would have been less of an issue otherwise, with better stricter enforcement, No?

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Anagram: Unconventional/Novel Nun Action

       Today, the Third day of the Democratic National Convention, contained the most damning attacks on the worth of John McCain as a candidate.  His alleged strength on National Security has been clearly exposed by the Democrats as a weakness.  It was pointed out that John McCain was wrong about Iraq and Barack Obama was right, that Barack was right about Afghanistan and McCain was wrong.  All of tonight’s speakers were crushing in an emotional plea to America, telling America that if George Bush is bad, and almost everyone agrees that he is, then John McCain, by dint of being of the same mind, and voting for the Policies espoused by The Bush Administration is bad for America….

      ….and dammit, the Democrats did it right.  Joe Biden and Bill Clinton, along with Evan Bayh, Madeline Albright and a great many other speakers both well known and Unknown made the same point with strength and frequency, that Barack Obama’s policies are better than those of his Opponent in this horse race, That John McCain is, for all intents and purposes, another incarnation of George w. Bush. 

    I am going to throw a video or two at the bottom of this blog.

    The Beginning of the night was just a rip roaring party, a festive little lovefest of each state having a delegate, usually a prominent state leader, sometimes well known, sometimes not, who would tout the states rich heritage, and then tell how many delegate votes each person got…after that is the nomination process, which was basically several important people in the party first nominating and then seconding said nomination.  Pageantry, richly choreographed, and well done. 

     The touch of having Hillary Clinton speak for the New York delegation and then ask that Barack Obama be named the Democratic Presidential Candidate by acclamation was a really nice touch.  It had the effect of the Clinton’s actually Handing the torch to the Obama’s, very well done. 

       Noteworthy speeches: Tammy Duckworth, a real American hero, lost both her legs after her helicopter was shot down in Iraq, and is Still Serving her country with two prosthetic legs.  Strong Woman.  To hear her talk about how bad the Bushes have been with the Military,  and how deftly she tied McCain to Bush, from the standpoint of wounded veteran, and of someone still serving, was deeply damning. 

     Bill Clinton.  In no uncertain terms, he laid the groundwork for the night, which was nothing more than an all out assault on Both George Bush and John McCain from beginning to end.  He blasted McCain, but more importantly, he gave a rousing and strong endorsement of Barack Obama to the raucous crowd in Denver.  He was not necessarily bombastic, but he was strong and hard on Both McCain and Bush, read the transcript here.  For those looking for divisiveness, they need to look elsewhere, there was none of that here.

     Joe Biden.  A few verbal gaffes, most notably for me was his saying McCain wanted “$200,000,000 in taxes for corporate America” when he  i think meant “$200,000,000 in tax breaks for corporate America” He had a slip earlier as well, saying:     

You know, folks, that’s the America that George Bush has left us. And that’s the America we’ll continue to get if George — excuse me, if John McCain is elected president of the United States of America. Freudian slip. Freudian slip.

       Nice. Might not have been as Freudian as he’s letting on but it may well have been. Either way, the effect was large and pronounced. So joined at the hip in his mind are these two, Bush and McCain, that in his mind, he’s mixing up their names.

       The speech was well crafted and aside from those two goofs (if goofs they were) was a solid and prolonged attack On John McCain. Read it here.  He REALLY tore McCain a new Asshole near the end of the speech.   Just read the transcript or catch the Viddy.  It’s good stuff.

    Today was a good day to be a Democrat.

    That’s about it except for the Videos. First up,  Joe Biden:

    

 Next Up, John Kerry Whipping John McCain’s Ass, around 13:00 total run time:

    I could not find the Tammy Duckworth speech on youtube, I might post it tomorrow.  we’ll see. 

That’s It for me. Later.

Today’s Nuggets, Via Wikiquote:  In the case of a word like DEMOCRACY, not only is there no agreed definition, but the attempt to make one is resisted from all sides. It is almost universally felt that when we call a country democratic we are praising it: consequently the defenders of every kind of régime claim that it is a democracy, and fear that they might have to stop using the word if it were tied down to any one meaning. Words of this kind are often used in a consciously dishonest way. That is, the person who uses them has his own private definition, but allows his hearer to think he means something quite different.   George Orwell

All deductions having been made, democracy has done less harm, and more good, than any other form of government. It gave to human existence a zest and camaraderie that outweighed its pitfalls and defects. It gave to thought and science and enterprise the freedom essential to their operation and growth. It broke down the walls of privilege and class, and in each generation it raised up ability from every rank and place.     Will Durant

Anagram: When It Rains/Nine Wraiths

When It rains, It pours…..Aaaaand the DSL Goes out and me and the wife get very annoyed and I want to kick the Computer, the guy who did the wiring in this house and Verizon, not necessarily in that order. I know I shouldn’t get frustrated with things I have no control over, but what else can i do? Maybe want to do the things I do Online less if I know that issues creep up like this every once in a while. That’s one answer, and maybe the best one there is. Wanting always leads to issues, If you are content with what you have, where you are, you don’t have issues like that. But there aren’t too many Humans who can pull that trick off. I can do it sometimes, but not all the time and not always very well. I do what I can.  

Politics: Why do I care about politics? Hmm… Long story, but I have time, a keyboard and the will to express myself, so here goes.

I Love America. I love the freedom that America represents, not just to ourselves but to the world around us. The Constitution is a deep and well thought out document that protects the rights of all citizens about as well as a document can. And does it better than any document or political doctrine that has come out since. Nothing there you didn’t know.

I am a third generation American. My Grandmother on my fathers side came over from Ireland about 80 or so years ago. I believe my Polish Grandmother on my mothers side came over some short time prior to that, but for now I wish to speak of my Fathers side of the family. There are members of My family that still have that thick Irish brough, or something resembling it at least, and there are members of the Family who still speak the Irish Gaelic language. Admittedly not many but they are still around. I actually know a wee bit of it Myself. Dia Dhuit! Conas Ta Tu? Go Rah Maigh Agat! and other such statements.

Those two may seem like Unrelated statements but they aren’t. We Irish are a very Politically Motivated people, and for good reason. We were, for hundreds of years, an Oppressed people, and it was only with the dawning of this century , and with a great deal of bloody violence in late 1910′s and early 1920′s that we gained our freedom. I heard stories when I was a kid of Older family members and friends of the family, caught during the troubles and their Kids were forced to watch them be executed, Murdered by the British. Those kids were my uncles, My Fathers oldest siblings. Don’t know how true the stories were, but they definitely had an effect.

Family Members, executed fighting for their freedom. If that won’t give an ever so slightly Political bent, and a subversive one at that, to your thought at some point in your life, you don’t have one. Kinda thing that makes you want to be a freedom fighter yourself. To fight the good fight.

That turned fairly early on into an interest In politics. I got my first taste of it in the Mid 1970′s, at the ripe old age of 9, paying attention to the 1976 presidential race. I listened to both the Republicans and the Democrats, and I placed my heart with Jimmy Carter, and was Pleased as could be when he won. I don’t think It turned out quiet the way I wanted it to tho. The Iran Hostages thing left a sour taste in my mouth. By the time that Happened I was a Little more sophisticated, not much in reality, I was after all still only a kid.

I was never a fan of Reagan, he seemed to me too much the Actor. I liked his splendid little wars tho. They did bring something that was missing to the country, Morale. We needed a boost, and Nothing gave us a boost quite like Blowing up some poor little country. Initially I was dead set against this type of thing, But explosions are fun to watch when you’re high. And I was high.

I was a naive little thing back then, and fell for the Reagan thing. I remember goofing on the John Lennon Song singing “All we are saying, Is Give Ed Meese a Chance” That always got a giggle. I am trying to remember exactly what it was that got me on the Reagan bandwagon besides Explosions and pretty speeches….That what it was! The Commies! I HATED the communists back then. They were the enemies of America! F*ck’em! He hated them and thought they were wrong from The Beginning to end and everywhere in between, and that was Just Fine by me.

The Republican thing died for me, at least on a National level, with Reagan. I have voted for Republicans on the local level, Susan Molinari and Vito (Drunky) Fossella, The Borough President, who is invariably an Italian Republican, who in most ways gets the job done, I guess. Does what he can for the Island, and he’s a Good Enough guy. Molinari for a long time, and when he left, Molinaro. The joke was, when we elected the new guy in, It wasn’t a change of Borough Presidents, It was a change of vowels.

The Democratic voting for me really began in earnest with Mario Cuomo. Mario was the Man. He was the BEST damn Governor this state had had since….Al Smith? Ya, that’s the name. He was always right. He always fought for the Little guy, and he always won. Couldn’t have been a bigger fan. On the Presidential level, for me, the Democrats of the 80′s weren’t really all that much good. Walter Mondale? Uggggh, Besides being from Minnesota, I could not have told you a thing about him. Well…..That and he was the where’s the beef guy. Not gonna build a presidential resume based on that. Dukakis wasn’t much better, The Republicans made Willie Horton Stick to him, even tho it wasn’t him who passed that furlough law. And I remember him looking like mickey mouse while riding a tank in some picture. Beyond that, Not much. It took a Hick from the Sticks to Fix the Democratic Presidential Dilemma. Guy you may have heard of.

Bill Clinton. Great President. Had his eye on the Prize the whole time…except for his problem with women. And That never bothered me. He was the Best Leader this country has seen in my lifetime on an economic level. The Only one who could balance a budget. THE Only one.

Listen, That’s it for me. I’ve rambled on too long and gone a fair bit beyond what I was initially going to write. I’m gonna go hang out with the wife and watch some Alton Brown.

Hang out with the wife? WHAT A NOVEL CONCEPT! Think I’ll do it! YESH!

No Guitar stuff today. I played, a fair bit today, well considering that the last two days I didn’t play at all. 40 minutes is a fairly long time. Dammit, I wanted to play more, but it just didn’t happen. I’ll try to play some tomorrow. T’would be nice. If I get the time to. The landlord is coming over with some guy to look at fixing my bathroom, might not have time to play tomorrow.

Play a few Notes for me. JAM ON!

Today’s Nuggets: A man sometimes starts up a patriot, only by disseminating discontent, and propagating reports of secret influence, of dangerous counsels, of violated rights, and encroaching usurpation. This practice is no certain note of patriotism. To instigate the populace with rage beyond the provocation, is to suspend publick happiness, if not to destroy it. He is no lover of his country, that unnecessarily disturbs its peace. Few errours and few faults of government, can justify an appeal to the rabble; who ought not to judge of what they cannot understand, and whose opinions are not propagated by reason, but caught by contagion. The fallaciousness of this note of patriotism is particularly apparent, when the clamour continues after the evil is past. Samuel Johnson

There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with power to endanger the public liberty. John Adams

Anagram: Howard Dean/Warhead Nod

       Good News On the Howard Dean/Florida front.  Howard Dean is Confident enough that there will be a delegation from Florida at the Democratic Convention in Denver in August that a hotel has been booked for the Florida delegation, This According to Howard Dean Himself.  While this is far from the Definitive statement that the Delegates Have been seated, It is by far the Best Piece of news On the Delegate front to come from Howard Dean and The DNC for a long time.   Quoting the Story from www.tallahassee.com: 

       “The party has reserved hotel rooms for the delegation in Denver, he said after emerging from a closed-door meeting with Florida’s party chief and members of the state’s congressional delegation.  The gesture marked a breakthrough for Florida Democrats, which the national party penalized for moving up its presidential primary to Jan. 29. The early date violated party rules by a week.  Dean stressed, however, that “a lot of work” remains in figuring out how Florida delegates will be allocated. He said party members will be working with Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama to reach a solution.”  END QUOTE. 

         Happy Happy!!!!  Great News!!! Good to see some level of Realistic Progress here.  Thank You Mister Dean, for getting out there and Making something Happen.  Although I am sure it means that There will be a lot of hemming and hawing from Both the Clinton and Obama Camps about how many delegates each will get.   I do expect, however, that there will be, on some level, some Kind of Consensus before July 1st, which is the date that Howard Dean and The DNC Have set for The Super-delegates to have picked their Candidates by.  That doesn’t mean that they all will.  Everything this election cycle has gone Anything but according to plan, so expect there to be Some level of Fireworks as some of the delegates will decide to wait until the Convention, or at least not have picked a candidate by that point.    For the Whole story click here—->  http://www.tallahassee.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080402/CAPITOLNEWS/80402008

      Ugly Little story here.   Reading On a website called www.themoderatevoice.com about Bill Clinton a few days ago speaking to super-delegates last weekend.  He apparently Got a Little Hotheaded and poured forth some anger and Unhappiness about The way things are going for His Wife on the Campaign trail.  Apparently Rachel Binah, a Super-delegate voting for Hillary, and former Super-delegate for Bill Richardson Say she was Sorry about hearing  James Carville call Bill Richardson Judas, and Bill Flipped.  Here’s the Account from the Story on that website: 

       “Five times to my face (Richardson) said that he would never do that,” a red-faced, finger-pointing Clinton erupted.  The former president then went on a tirade that ran from the media’s unfair treatment of Hillary to questions about the fairness of the votes in state caucuses that voted for Obama. It ended with him asking delegates to imagine what the reaction would be if Obama was trailing by just 1 percent and people were telling him to drop out. “It was very, very intense,” said one attendee. “Not at all like the Bill of earlier campaigns.”  END QUOTE. For the Entire story, click here —-> http://themoderatevoice.com/at-tmv/newsweek-blogitics/18736/report-angry-bill-clinton-rant-shocked-california-delegates/

       Now, don’t get me wrong, I think there needs to be some level of control greater than this exhibited by Former President Clinton here.  I think It’s a little silly that a Man in his 60′s can’t show some Element of Control Over his Emotions, especially when High Office is On The Line. He needs to control Public Displays of it, especially with the Whiny, prissy, Bitchy, way everything gets blown out of proportion these days.  That Being said, I do However Understand His Rage, His Anger at the way things are going here.  His wife Is only down maybe 2 Percentage Points, he said one but I have a different set of Numbers I go by, but Having all this crap thrown her way, The possibility of Losing to someone who is such a shyster, a Huckster, a Snake oil salesman, is frustrating to me, and I’m Not Involved In the Campaign in any real way shape or form.  I can see where the Anger is born, and why he’s That ‘Intense”.  I don’t have a problem with Bill Being That Pissed. As a Matter of Fact, While Public Displays of Insanity are never pretty, It’s refreshing to see some genuine Hostility coming from The Clinton camp.  They have seen Time and again The Obama People get away with crap left, right, and crooked, from Wright, to lying about The contributions from Oil companies, to The Obvious falsehood of his anti PAC/Lobbyist talk, Saying he wants to get rid of them while using their kind offices to raise money for his campaign.  It is Insane that The Clinton’s have really Laid off and played nice this Whole time. 

        I Think It’s time to Unleash some Real hostility towards the Obama Campaign for the Clinton’s.  They have listened to lie after lie after lie being told By Barack Obama and His Cronies and they just keep on getting away with it.  Someone has to call These rat Bastards On the Carpet and make them pay for the wrong they are perpetrating here on an unsuspecting America.   The wrong thing to do was to Unleash it towards Hillary supporters in a way that comes off as Frustrated and Upset.  More control is needed by the Clinton’s here.   The right way would have been, and would be to Let the Press Hear it Every day.  Call Obama and His Team On the Carpet in a Loud and Clear Voice, when the Cameras are rolling, Every Grievance they have with the wrongs perpetrated by The Obama Campaign.  Don’t worry about how the Obama campaign will Sling Mud at you.  Let them do their worst.  Swing Now or Not at all.  You’re Numbers, Hillary, are dropping, You need to Drop the Gloves and Bust Obama in The Mouth, Hard.  Take whatever he dishes out, But make sure he feels it, and Make sure the World sees you Hit’em.  It does you No good to Yell about crap Behind closed doors.  Scream from the Mountain Tops The truth that we Clinton Supporters Know to be True: “OBAMA’S A FRAUD” and then Tell them In no Uncertain Terms Why.

                    It’s Do or Die Time Hillary.  Hill Kill’em all.  Let God sort’em Out.

             That’s It for Politics, news, and Opinion, Onto Personal stuff.

       A quick few happy Birthday’s out there to: Bill Romanowski is 42 years old today, Pete Incaviglia turns 44 today and Moriteru Ueshiba, The Grandson Of The Founder of Aikido and (I believe) Highest ranking Martial artist in Aikido, turns 57 today. Boxing Great and Former Welterweight and Middleweight Champion Carmen Basilio is 81 Today.   Happy Birthday Everyone! A Happy Wish you were still around to celebrate yer birthday goes out to Hans Christian Anderson on his 203rd B’day, Thomas Jefferson on his 265th B’day and Charlemagne, Celebrating his 1,266th Birthday!   HAPPY HAPPY ONE AND ALL!

       Run: 1.85 Miles in 14:24.93  7:50.00 M/M Pace.  Short run you say?  Yes it was.  I was ready to run 7.45 Today.  I was out and Running, On the early part of Lap one of a scheduled 3 in the park, On my way to a 7.45, call it 9:20 into the run.  I got a Nosebleed, Completely out of the Blue.  It was messy too.  I had to stop.  I wear White gloves when I run and It’s Under 50 degrees, work type gloves with the little rubber grips on them.  They Now have Blood stains All over them.  Looks Like I beat someone bloody while I was wearing them.  I could Not stop the bleeding either.  I stopped, and walked a bit, with my head back, swallowing blood, spitting it out, bloody spit (always a fun thing to see) It finally stopped after about 5 minutes and I resumed running, But i decided to go home and not try to finish the run, on a route I normally never would have taken.  REALLY steep Hill, Pushed hard, ran for about two minutes, It started up again.  Joy.  Not so bad this time, so Not as big a worry.  Walked a fair bit until it had stopped,  call it two minutes, found a Nice downhill to run and started running again, ran all the way home, call it 3 or 3 ½ minutes.  Got home, walked in the house, Yep, Started bleeding again.  I think I may have burst a blood vessel blowing my nose while running.  It started up On me once after that In the shower, but that one was minor.  I am Hoping to do some Mileage tomorrow, but I’ll run when and How I can.  Not gonna push if all it’s gonna do is make me a Bloody F****** Mess.  Frustrating. 

       Guitar:  I just haven’t had the time.  I have been busy all day.  I usually start this Up at 7 or 8 o’clock On a Wednesday night after a semi-relaxed day.  Not Today.   A Very Busy day.  I WILL play though.  I have a Guitar next to me, and I will be getting some Music In tonight if it kills me.  Dammit I don’t have these Guitars around here to Just sit there and Look pretty.  I have to go make some noise. And I have to do it now.  The question is, should I go electric or acoustic…..Hmmmm……

        That’s It.  Time To Jam!

Today’s Nuggets:  Yesterday is yesterday. If we try to recapture it, we will only lose tomorrow.  Bill Clinton

You had the right to say: my worst enemy has the right to be free, on condition that he not ask for my death or that of my brothers. You did not have the right to say: my worst enemy is a comrade. You did not have the right to take a falsifier of history and to recast him in the colors of truth.   Pierre Vidal-Naquet