O Death, Where Is Thy Sting?

Right here. It's stung me too many times this year to toss it off casually. Two family members (I think both were the last of their generation); too many feline friends.


Dad died last month. He was in his 90s, so it came as no great surprise except, apparently, to my inner child or summat, because I keep catching myself speaking or thinking of him all the time, in the present, or worse yet, as if he was actually present.

It's been almost exactly a month since I got the phone call. I had made reservations months ago to spend a couple of weeks around Thanksgiving with him. Let us give thanks for those parents we have left. Those relatives, of any degree of relativity. No, not really. I'm not terribly fond of my relatives. Although I was very fond of Dad.

I've been told I look like him. (A piece of flattery that would earn anyone a place in my good books, or on my Xmas list.) He was a handsome man. All I know is, I got his teeth (fragile), his feet (flat), and his tendency to tear up in old age. Also, thick eyebrows, early graying (he was 30 when he went completely silver, but the fates were kind and gave me an extra decade to get used to it), and a reading addiction I just can't shake. Thanks, Dad.

My father was a good man. One of the few I've ever met. His word was his bond. He never said anything he didn't mean (and because he was a gentle man, that meant he often said nothing at all, because he couldn't bear to be mean); he never told a lie. I miss him a great deal already. But he's been gone for several years now, fading a little each year. Losing his hearing, and then his sight, and finally even words. At first, at the beginning of his long decline, he would answer my questions with "I don't know. I don't know how to say. I've forgotten the words." In the end, he could not speak at all, although his brain could decipher that we were making patterns of sounds. He attempted to join in, but could only produce strange, disjointed noises, shouts, barks, mutters, all cadenced just like his normal speech.

Hard as it was to hear that he was gone, it wasn't intensely painful. After all, he was no longer mobile, nor continent, and the last stroke left him with a feeding tube. If he had understood what was happening, he would have hated every minute of it. So perhaps it's just as well that multiple small strokes took away his power of understanding.

But barely had I placed his bones in a funeral urn, crushing them with my hands, when came more bad news: Zingiber died suddenly, a week after my father.

O grave, here is thy victory. Stop taking my nearest and dearest away. Or at least slow your pace a little. Over the past decade, I've buried two sets of parents (natal and in-law); lost too many dearly-loved friends; and said goodbye to six cats and a dog, two charming chickens, and several bunnies. I'm done. I want a year or two without funerals and burials and mourning. Is that too much to ask? I'm feeling my own years, and I've spent thirty of the past X years worrying about, and taking care of (in my own incompetent fashion) my parents. They're gone, now, and I really have stopped caring. I don't want to give any more hostages to fortune. I'm ready for my own last trip to the banquet, goddammit. Ready to be worm food. Life sure is a lot bleaker without my dearly beloveds. Goodbye, Dad. I wish I could have talked to you more, but I really did spend every single day's worth of vacation over the last three decades with you. And Mum made every second of it a hell, so I'm sorry I didn't bite the bullet and sit through her needling, her vicious jibes, and her petty, pointed remarks and stay for the delight of your company. I couldn't do it, in the end. I just couldn't take any more. I'm sorry. I have always loved you, and I will always love you. And I always felt your love, Dad, surrounding me, making my life a better place. Making me all the good things I have ever been, or could be.

Goodbye, little Zingiber. I'll tell your story, my love. It will live in my heart always, just as you will, with my beloved father, and my sister, and all the others I loved who left me behind in their dance between matter and energy.

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Happy New Year!

Another year has come to an end. And what a difference from a mere year ago! It's hard to capture the rage and despair of 2008, the craziness of the elections, the culmination of eight years of suffering through the policies of the demented cabal of the Naked Emperor in Washington, with its know-nothing appointees, its grand pooh-bahs with degrees in various ludicrous offshoots of fundamentalist theology from various ludicrous fundamentalist "shcoolz."

Thanks to the endless drumbeats of the Republican media machine, we could be forgiven for thinking that the masses are bitterly dissatisfied with President Obama's first year in office, but in fact it seems the masses are too busy dealing with daily life and bad teevee to cast more than an occasional glance at the goings-on in Washington.

Which is really not very good at all, but after years of being wound up to fever pitch and suffering the horrors of unbridled Republican greed (which seems to be getting worse, or exposed more often, or something), I can understand people wanting to take a break. And there is no denying that the President has worked wonders in foreign affairs. There is a new response that Americans traveling abroad excite, a new comity. While Republicans at home continue to froth and fume, growing increasingly rabid, turning over more and more of their power to shrill idiots like (ins)Hannity, Blech, and Limpballs, the whole world seems to be willing to relax a little and offer the new guy a much friendlier and more accepting demeanor than we've seen in nearly a decade.

Russia joining the US in sanctions for Iran? Who'd'a thunk?

This year has been rife in challenges. The collapse of Wall St., the taxpayer bailout, the stalling of the closure of Gitmo, the fight after fight after fight for healthcare, the destruction of Main street mortgage values ... no one can say it wasn't arduous and, at times, wretched. But — we made it. There's a spirit of caring and sharing in the air which has not been diffused by the hit our incomes took. Yahoo is offering its employees a chance to do good as a year-end bonus; Hairdressers are offering free haircuts to job seekers; and organizations of volunteers have teamed with restaurants and chefs in some cities to donate and deliver food to those who need it.

Enjoy your friends and families, this New Year's Eve. If you're going out, stay safe and wrap up warm. Make sure your designated driver carts your drunken asses safely home. Or better yet, snuggle up with your sweetie in front of a blazing fire, or a warm heater, and play a friendly game of, I dunno, Scrabble? Monopoly? Something fun.

La Casa de Los Gatos is dining on Mongolian beef with lots of dried red chillies in it; sauteed Chinese greens in Xiaohsing rice wine, soy sauce, cornstarch, chicken stock, with a couple drops of sesame oil; and plain rice.

Tomorrow we break out the Merlot with dear friend and fellow blogger Ms. Manitoba, and grill/broil filet steaks with different seasonings. It's our steak taste testing New Year's celebration.

Details to be posted later.

Thanks for your visits, your comments, your friendship. May the New Year be much kinder to you and yours than the old has been. And a very Happy New Year to all.

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The Difference

Between the current Preznitwit:

Bushes Send Out Christmas-Themed Hannukah Cards

AP/Lawrence Jackson

Dim Son making faces at the Global Summit in Peru. Thank TPTB this is his last foreign trip. Perhaps the world will forget he ever existed, and soon.

and our future President:

"President-Elect Obama strongly condemns today's terrorist attacks in Mumbai, and his thoughts and prayers are with the victims, their families, and the people of India. These coordinated attacks on innocent civilians demonstrate the grave and urgent threat of terrorism. The United States must continue to strengthen our partnerships with India and nations around the world to root out and destroy terrorist networks. We stand with the people of India, whose democracy will prove far more resilient than the hateful ideology that led to these attacks[,...]."

Brooke Anderson, Chief National Security Spokesperson

Picture from The Huffington Post

Our Future President and the First Family handing out Thanksgiving food to the needy at their local food bank. That's some Family values we can get behind. Gotta go hand out Thanksgiving dinner to los gatos!

Happy Thanksgiving to all of yez! Have a wonderful time with your loved ones in grateful enjoyment of Nature's bounty. Stay warm and safe and drive carefully.

La Casa de Los Gatos wishes you the best.

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Politics: Barack Obama and Racism

On November 5th of the year 2008, 52 per cent of America's voting populace heaved a huge sigh of relief amid cries of "Yes, We Did!" (OK, November 4th for those of us who just had to stay up till the last possible minute to enjoy that early victory.)

But what is it that we just did? Did we overcome racism, hatred, discrimination? Did we set an example for the whole world that in America, if you work hard enough, your dreams can come true?

No. All we did was elect a biracial man to the highest office of the land. He probably could not have won if he were not half white. And even though his mother was a white American, and he was raised by his white grandparents, we still heard, for two years, about how he was a Muslim, born in Kenya, an Arab, a Manchurian candidate, a friend of PLO terrorists and cousin to an African despot, et cetera ad infinitum ad nauseam. And if you were not nauseated by the endless drivel spouted by the hatemeisters of right-wing blogs, it's because you were not reading them or exposed to the almost psychotic reality-refuting venom they were disseminating.

Today, the Christian Science Monitor reports (via the Huffington Post) that some 200 racist incidents have already occurred as documented by the Southern Poverty Law Center. To put this in perspective, consider, if you will, that exactly 13 days have passed since the election. That's roughly 15 incidents of racism per day.

Interestingly, the CSM refers to President Obama as "black." Many white and biracial people consider him biracial, not black. But in the U.S., thanks to the ugly legacy of slavery, there is something called the "one-drop" rule: If you have a single ancestor who is black, regardless how attenuated that ancestral tie, you are black. Even if your skin is whiter than most, your hair straighter and blonder, your eyes bluer or greener, the fact that your great-great-great lost-in-time ancestor was a black person makes you a black person also.

It reminds us of that brilliant film, Monsieur Klein, in which Alain Delon plays Robert Klein, a Parisian art-dealer who is exploiting Jews trying to flee the German invasion of France. When Klein is suspected of being a Jew (due to the existence of another Klein with the same first name living in the same area who is, apparently, Jewish), he goes to see his father to ask if there is, indeed, any Jewish blood in the family. His father replies, enraged, "We've been French and Catholic since Louis the Fourteenth!" An ambiguous statement, at best, given the many years of French history preceding the reign of that king. Did Papa Klein mean only to suggest that the family had German roots? Or was there, indeed, a Jewish ancestor lost in the mists of time?

How do we overcome the hate, the racism, the prejudice? How do we overcome the sentiment that causes believing Christians (whose teacher taught that we must love all as we love ourselves, that judgment is reserved to god alone, that perfect love casteth out fear) to vote to take away the rights of others? How do we change the minds of people who think burning a cross on someone's lawn is an appropriate response to someone whose skin colour, eye shape, religion, or sexual preference is different than their own?

In the coming months, we will have to join together to work even harder than we worked over the past two years. We're all exhausted from what has gone before, but don't rest too long. Our new President sets a good example. The man has taken less than one day off so far, and he worked harder than any one of us the past two years.

This blog returns to its original mission of searching out actionable items of interest everywhere and begs your indulgence for our past months of election fever. It's not easy to blog when laced to the gills with strong pain meds, but La Casa de Los Gatos thanks you for your support and interest over the past year or two. Please let us know what you think about anything we write.

Special thanks to our fine fellow-bloggers Ms. Manitoba, FoTPC, and Milagrito aka The Feline Pope-in-Exile.

As a warning against the detrimental effects of bigotry we post this photograph:


This fine specimen is currently facing charges in the death of a recruit to his particular Conehead branch of the Ku Klux Klan. Lest we end up with people like him leading, or more likely, chivvying us from behind, let us return anew to the fight against bigotry.

We leave you with this ditty:

"You've got to be taught
To hate and fear,
You've got to be taught
From year to year,
It's got to be drummed
In your dear little ear
You've got to be carefully taught.

You've got to be taught to be afraid
Of people whose eyes are oddly made,
And people whose skin is a diff'rent shade,
You've got to be carefully taught.

You've got to be taught before it's too late,
Before you are six or seven or eight,
To hate all the people your relatives hate,
You've got to be carefully taught "

Rodgers and Hammerstein, South Pacific.

In closing, HuffPo commenter SurferKit would like you all to know:

This is a good time to remind bloggers here at HP that if you see a threatening post made against Obama, Michelle, or his daughters, use the links below to send an email to the appropriate government agencies and let them know.

FBI

Secret Service

As this topic indicates, the threats to Obama should NOT be taken lightly. Be assured the FBI and the Secret Service will take your email seriously.

Thanks.

On the plus side, we do want to point out that the majority of people have graciously accepted victory or conceded defeat, as the case may be. And we're not thrilled with the idea of turning in people for "thought crimes." On the minus side, Columbine, and, you know, all those loons posting their plans for dismembering other folks all violent-like all over teh InnerTubes, and then actually going out and doing it. "Who'd'a thunk?" we all cried afterwards. Well, clearly, some of us would'a. And did'a.

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2008 Elections: Your Next President

Should be someone who has the energy, the dedication, the commitment, and the mental acuity to multitask. Because, face it people, this is what the 21st century is all about. Gone are the days when we could work on one thing at a time. These days, we have many irons in the fire and they require work all the time, all round.

Barack Obama makes his case once again.

In the middle of a hard-fought primary, while his opponent was flinging kitchen sinks and associated hardware at him, the man found the time and energy to begin moving the nation towards total transparency in the economy.

Reaching across the aisle, as he said he would, he convinced Congressional colleague and erstwhile (and current) ally Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma to work with him to give us ALL information about how our government spends our tax dollars.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senators Barack Obama (D-IL) and Tom Coburn (R-OK) today introduced the Strengthening Transparency and Accountability in Federal Spending Act of 2008 (S.3077), which would expand the information available on USASpending.gov, as well as make the data more accessible and readable. USASpending.gov (aka "Google for Government"), created by the Coburn-Obama Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 and launched in December 2007, makes public information about nearly all Federal grants, contracts, loans and other financial assistance available in a regularly updated, user-friendly, and searchable format.

The morning after the final primaries of Montana and South Dakota, the man was in Congress introducing this bill.

What would you be doing the day after a year-long campaign had finally come to an end? Most of us would probably be lying in bed, or lounging on the couch, feet up, resting after one of the most exhausting, gruelling campaigns in the history of this nation.

Not Senator Obama. Here's a little more information on his bill:

"I'm pleased to have the opportunity to work once again with my Senate colleagues to improve the transparency of federal spending. This bill is a continuation of our efforts to give taxpayers the power to know exactly what their money is being spent on and to help us in our efforts to root out waste and fraud. This legislation makes it much easier to hold agencies, contractors and others who receive federal funding accountable for their activities and their performance," said Senator Carper.

In April 2006, Obama and Coburn introduced the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act (S. 2590), which would publicly disclose all recipients of federal funding and financial assistance through a website to be established and maintained by the Office of Management and Budget. The President signed this legislation into law in September 2006 and USASpending.gov was launched in December 2007.

La Casa de Los Gatos is socially progressive and fiscally conservative. Very conservative. We would much rather spend taxpayer dollars in healing the sick, helping the poor, educating the ignorant, giving working people jobs, comforting and caring for the elderly, disabled, and young people. But &mdash we do not support throwing money away.

Having worked hard for every penny since our earliest youth, we resent our money being spent on professional "poverty pimps," bloated bureaucracies, waste, poor management and mismanagement. We'd rather pay working people a decent wage that enables them to support their families than pay CEOs and directors and middle managers one hundred times what the average worker earns. The people who clean up our shit &mdash nurses, teachers, doctors, street sweepers, police, firefighters, food service workers, physical therapists, childcare providers &mdash they are what makes our society.

Not the businessmen who take huge risks with shareholders' money but the entrepreneurs who see a need and exercise their creative imagination to fill it and treat their employees well. We don't need the first type of person. We need lots more of the second type of person.

To that end, we want to know where every penny of our tax dollar goes. We don't want it going to make Halliburton's middle managers and bigshots obscenely rich. We would rather it went to soldiers who did their best to obey the orders they were given. We would rather see them get a decent wage instead of taking payday loans at between 200 and 900 per cent interest rates. We want them, and their families, to have decent health care &mdash the kind of health care that Dick Cheney and John McBush enjoy. We don't want them lying in pools of piss at broken-down military hospitals full of mold and rats.

Thus we are very grateful to Senator Barack Obama for making this process transparent. This is a start. It is now OUR duty as taxpayers to visit USASpending.gov regularly and keep an eye on what our government is doing with our money.

If this is how Senator Obama will govern as President Obama, then give him your vote if you believe in accountability, equity, transparency, fairness, and freedom.

There's a new sheriff in town and he's going to help us, the people, clean it up!


YES. HE. CAN! YES. WE. CAN!

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Politics: Last One Out

of the White House, please turn off the lights.

Gee Dumbya can just sit in the dark and cry.

Didja think it was gonna be this bad? We sure didn't. It appears the rats Stupie McChimperson surrounded himself with based on "loyalty" instead of competence, are demonstrating the depth of their loyalty. About an inch wide and an inch deep, we reckon.

The WahPoo has termed it an "Exodus of Senior Officials." The rats are running for the exits, and they don't care if they have to leave claw marks on Georgie, Dick, and any other minions Left Behind. Some choice quotes:

With eight months left in President Bush's term, scores of senior officials already are heading for the exits, leaving nearly half the administration's top political positions vacant or filled by temporary appointees, federal statistics show.

[...]

Scandal has thinned the administration's ranks, as well. Dozens of appointee jobs have become vacant since ethical crises at the General Services Administration, the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Justice Department, to name a few.

[...]

Leonard E. Burman, a public finance expert at the Urban Institute who served as deputy assistant secretary for tax analysis in the Clinton administration, said unfilled positions do not go unnoticed.

"It's probably important for the morale of the staff, because if there are no replacements for senior-level positions and none in the wings, then it suggests that they are kind of irrelevant," Burman said. "It does kind of signal that the work of that office is kind of shutting down."

Something tells me the blowout party that will be held in January 2009 will be quite the sight to see.

In other, related news, Snotty McFelon, former Bushoid press secretary, has published a "kiss and tell" book with more telling than kissing. He's trashing the entire Bush Misadministration, who are unsurprisingly unhappy about it. Pasty maggot Karl Rove weighed in with this money shot:

Former top Bush advisors Karl Rove and Fran Townsend have disputed McClellan's claims. Rove accused McClellan of sounding like a "left-wing blogger."

True dat. It's just not vituperative enough to sound like a "right-wing blogger."

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Politics: Life Sucks

The Pretzeldunce Chimperor opens his mouth, sticks in a foot, and decides he lurves the taste of boot. Buy him peppermint-flavoured shoes, y'awl, his foot's in his mouth so often he needs 'em.

Today's prizewinning demonstration of idiocy: Bush visits tornado victims, tells them life is unfair. Raw Story has the video clip.

Yeah, Georgie Porgie, that's the thing to do. Go see folks who have just had their lives, homes, and peace of mind destroyed and tell them, "Hey, life sucks, you guys. Uh, your life, that is. My life? I'm just sittin' in this big, expensive House being waited on by a staff of servants at your expense, futzing along. Great job, huh? Lifetime free health care and security to keep the peasants from strangling me, like so many want to. Tough shit on y'all, see you around."

What a motherfucker. What a rancid piece of walking pigshit. Come to think of it, the peasant in the forefront of that video don't look so happy either. Sheesh.

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Environment: Snippets

Map of the world from MIT

Snow fell in Baghdad today, according to residents of that benighted city a thing that has not happened for nearly 80 years. The nyuk-nyuk crowd will, of course, as we previously opined, nyuk most energetically about the ridiculousness of snowfall in a time of supposed global warming.

The rest of us, who have successfully extricated our noggins from our arses (or never had them there in the first place) sigh and look to the signs around us that tell us global warming proceeds apace.

This is how rare snow is in Baghdad: the people do not have the language for snowfall.

An Iraqi who works for The Associated Press said he woke his wife and children shortly after 7 a.m. to "have a look at this strange thing." He then called his brother and sister and found them awake, also watching the "cotton-like snow drops covering the trees."

Meanwhile, in Australia, the long drought has been somewhat relieved by ... flooding.

A study by the University of Adelaide in partnership with Charles Sturt University, published in the Australian Journal of Rural Health., stated, in part:

"Australian society, especially rural regions, is becoming more vulnerable to natural disasters, at least in terms of economic costs, and these disasters are primarily climate-related."

One side-effect of the drought is that deadly snakes are being forced from the desert into the cities, and Australia has some of the deadliest snakes in the world.

Meanwhile, Japan is looking at a possibility of a five-degree rise in average temperatures as well as fluctuations in rainfall ranging from a decline of 2.4 per cent to an increase of 16.4 per cent over recorded levels since 1970. The article states, in part:

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has predicted that global warming at current rates could cause more powerful storms, droughts and floods and eventually threaten hunger and homelessness for millions.

And for those who took some comfort in a British weather experts' finding that the world will cool slightly this year, hold the champagne. It'll still be one of the ten hottest years on record.

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Health: Alzheimer's Reversal

PET scan of a human brain with Alzheimer's courtesy of NIH/National Institute On Aging

This is good news indeed, for those of us with aging parents, or, worse yet, those who are feeling the first touch of Alzheimer's. Nasty, nasty disease. And till now there has been no cure, or even treatment, really.

A new scientific study documents marked improvement in Alzheimer’s disease within minutes of administration of a therapeutic molecule, according to the Journal of Neuroinflammation.

The study shows how a cytokine (soluble protein) known as tumor necrosis factor-alpha(TNF), which normally regulates transmission of neural impulses in the brain, interferes with regulation when it is present at elevated levels. The brains and cerebrospinal fluid of Alzheimer's patients show elevated levels of this cytokine.

Injection of an anti-TNF therapeutic called etanercept shows improvement within minutes. Etanercept (trade name Enbrel) binds and inactivates excess TNF. Etanercept is FDA approved to treat a number of immune-mediated disorders and is used off label in the study.

The study was authored by Edward Tobinick M.D., assistant clinical professor of medicine at UCLA and director of the Institute for Neurological Research, with coauthor Hyman Gross, M.D., clinical professor of neurology at USC.

The study is titled “Rapid cognitive improvement in Alzheimer’s disease following perispinal etanercept administration,” and is available with the accompanying commentary, entitled “Perispinal etanercept: Potential as an Alzheimer’s therapeutic,” on the Web site of the Journal of Neuroinflammation.

Let's hope it helps one of our favourite authors, Terry Pratchett.

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Politics: Another Rat Scurries

off the sinking ship:

Hypocritical sleazebag and potential prisoner John Doolittle

Good news! Champagne all around!

Corrupt sleazebag and aptly-named political slimebucket John Doolittle is retiring from Congress. Doolittle, a Republican cobag from California (the state collectively blushes in shame), is currently under investigation in a lobbying scandal that ties him to Jack Abramoff.

Doolittle attributes his decision to step down at the end of his current term to God.

"My wife, Julie, and I have made this decision after much prayer and deliberation. It was not my initial intent to retire, and I fully expected and planned to run again right up until very recently," Doolittle said after addressing supporters in his Northern California district.

He has supporters in Northern California?? WTF?? Shame, shame, shame dudes. You bin smokin' too much of yer product.

The shameless cobag means he had a conversation with the Deity, in which said Deity told him to get the H-E-double-toothpicks outa Dodge, because neither his party nor his constituents were buying his bullshit this time around.

"But it distilled upon us (sic) that we were ready for a change after spending almost our entire married lives with me in public service. We are at peace with this choice and look forward to starting a new chapter in our lives."

"Distilled upon us?" Say what? This must be a usage of distilled with which I am thankfully unfamiliar. Either that or the guy's been hitting the booze. Not that I blame him, with his current problems. Oh, hell, yes, I do. He's a pinch-faced hypocritical lazy corrupt jerk with the look of constant constipation draining his jowly cheeks. And what do you mean, public service, you hypocritical swine? Public swilling at the trough is more like it.

The article goes on to say:

The development comes as Doolittle, in his ninth term, faced growing political pressure from fellow Republicans who considered him a liability because of his involvement, along with his wife, in the Jack Abramoff influence-peddling investigation. House Republicans, still smarting from losing control of Congress in 2006, are eager to put that ethics taint behind them.

Hopefully we won't forget, and won't let the Republican party forget, either. It ain't over till every last one of those pandering, corrupt criminals is behind bars. They have robbed and stolen and swilled from the public treasury as if the lives of the suffering taxpayers were completely inconsequential. The legislative branch must be cleansed of every corrupt slimebag, Republican or Democratic. The executive branch must be cleansed of every corrupt slimebag who worked hand-in-glove with those foreign or native who conspired to rob the Treasury and bog down this great nation in endless war. To the prisons with them all!

For months Doolittle resisted suggestions that he retire, branding his GOP critics "weasels." [...T]he Democrat he barely beat in 2006, Charlie Brown, collected 10 times as much money as the incumbent for a rematch.

Doolittle will be the latest in a string of House Republicans to announce their retirements, although most don't have his legal problems. Nearly 20 others are headed into voluntary retirement.

Break out the champagne, folks! The rats are leaving the sinking ship in their dozens!

Raw Story has the details.

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2008 Elections: Barack Obama's Naivete

This is a guest post by Bri, hopefully the first in a continuing series:

There's been some talk by liberal commentators about how Barack Obama is "naive" [1] when he talks about "different kind of politics." I think that's a fundamental misunderstanding of how his campaign works.

I haven't seen any evidence that Obama thinks he can make peace with the "vast right wing conspiracy" that has gone after the Clintons for all these years. He's not seriously trying to reach hard-right Republican congressmen, wacko right-wing billionares, conservative talk show hosts, or freepers. But he is going after independent and conservative voters and he's doing pretty well. He's got people who wouldn't normally vote for a liberal in a million years thinking that he's not so bad, and maybe even rooting for him.

Or course, if Obama becomes the Democratic nominee, the people who brought us the Swift Boat Veterans are going to go after him with everything they've got. But I don't see why people like Glenn Greenwald [2] are so quick to assume it will work this time. There seems to be an assumption that because Republicans could slime Bill and Hillary and Gore and Kerry that they can slime anyone. My hunch is that a lot of people are going to be surprised when the slimers try and fail. All they've managed to come up with so far are the Muslim school rumors, and look how well that's working out for them.

So what's this "different kind of politics" all about? My suspicion is that, stripped of all the rhetoric, it comes down to having a liberal president who's also widely popular among many (not all) conservative voters. If Republican congressmen see in their polls that their constituents are strongly supportive of the new president, they're going to have to think hard about the consequences of being purely obstructive. It could result in a lot of important things actually getting done (like national health insurance).

I'm speculating, of course. But it makes me more optimistic about Obama's chances as president than about the other candidates.

[1] http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/17/opinion/17krugman.html
[2] http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/01/05/obama/index.html

As our regular readers know, we at The Political Cat consider Kucinich our ideal candidate, with Edwards coming second. We still fervently hope either Kucinich or Edwards is our next president, but we also believe that every voice and every point of view that is reasoned, intelligent, sincere, and factual about a solution to the nation's problems deserves to be heard.

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Economy: Fuel And Otherwise

Wow! How cool is this? Jonathan Goodwin, professional "car hacker," is messing around with various types of cars in the name of economy - fuel economy. And he's about to double the horsepower on a Hummer and convert it to biodiesel/electricity and get 60 mpg on it! Woof!

He's converting a car for Neil Young, too. His target is to get it to hit 100 mpg. All this, and he's cute, too.

But that aside - all these decades, our tax dollars have subsidised Big Auto while it cranked out low mpg, polluting hunks, simultaneously destroying the once-proud American auto industry, laying off workers, turning whole towns into ghosts of their former selves, fighting tooth and nail against giving workers wage increases while pouring buckets of money in the direction of executives.

In the meantime, industry and government have joined hands to stifle creativity and alternative fuels, increased mileage, lowered pollution - the things that benefit most of us. Now push has come to shove. We need to wean ourselves off the oil dependence teat, if we're going to survive. And Jonathan Goodwin, and people like him, can turn us around in no time flat! Yes!

I wish he lived down the road. I'd have my car to him so fast.

Found the pointer over at Biomes Blog, home of interesting information.

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Science - The Environment And The Coming Drought

Those of us who have been paying attention over the past decades always knew the day would come - most likely in our lifetimes - when the human population of the planet would outstrip the natural resources we require to support our lives. I was hoping I'd kack first, but alas, it is not to be. Within my lifetime, I see that we have reached peak oil. The Guardian published a piece today about global oil supplies expected to halve by 2030. The article also predicts declines in coal, gas, and uranium. So much for nuclear power plants, natural gas, and coal replacing oil as a source of power, I guess.

But that's still 23 years off. In the meantime, my main question is, will we make it till global oil supplies are reduced by half? You see, thanks to global warming (which does NOT NOT NOT exist), we're now in the midst of a prolonged drought. In some countries. Others are dying from floods. Hurricanes, typhoons, and other such weather events are getting stronger, and our carbon dioxide sinks - the oceans and the forests - are absorbing less carbon dioxide, leading to greater quantities of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

While parts of Africa drown, Southern California is burning up, and the East Coast is drying up. (Click to view a handy-dandy drought map over at Accuweather.com)

Atlanta (Georgia) is set to run out of water in 90 days and North Carolina expects to run out in 60 days, if it does not rain before then. Meanwhile, Duke University and UNC are watering their - astroturf. Yup. You heard right.

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The Future Of This Blog

You'll notice we now have an ad.

Having joined the ranks of the Painfully Unemployed, we are casting about for ways to provide for ourself, and it looks as if ads will become a feature. Over the next month or so, we'll also be making lots of other changes. What the hell, we've got the time, at least.

Let us know what you think. As long as it's not too rude or inflammatory.

The Management

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The People Must Lead

Or the leaders will not follow. Tomorrow is your chance to make your voice heard. Our leaders have stopped listening to us. They don't hear what we're saying about ending the illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq. They don't hear us when we say we're worried about our economy. They don't hear us when we say we need a better health care system now. They don't hear us when we say we want our food supply protected and safe for us and our families.

If they won't listen to us, we have to find a way to make them hear. So, tomorrow, call in sick to work, keep your kids at home, don't spend a dime in the stores or restaurants. Cook a meal, hang out with the cats and dogs, don't drive anywhere, don't spend any money. Because the only thing they hear is the sound of money talking.


We must take the country back. Shut it down!

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Health - Memory Loss

As we get older, we notice our mental functioning changes. It seems harder to commit friends' names, addresses, phone numbers, and other small details to memory, and harder to retrieve information that was committed, on demand. Other changes include a "reset to zero" of memory at any time and as a result of any stimulus. For example, you might walk into a room with a specific intent, to retrieve a book or locate an object, but once there, and faced with some other stimulus (like a bookshelf needing dusting, or papers to put in the recycling bin), and the memory resets to zero so that you no longer remember what your purpose was in entering the room.

Sometimes this can take on ridiculous overtones, as when one enters a room, engages in a task unrelated to the original purpose of entering the room, leaves the room for some other location, thinking "I'm sure I forgot something," and upon entering the other location, remembers, "Oh, yeah, I went to the bedroom to get the new shirt," returns to the room, and promptly forgets once again why one is there. Repeat two or three times, and your frustration level is right over the top.

What can you do to prevent this type of mental dysfunction, short of having a new brain installed?

Several things that are good for you generally are also good in preserving memory, or at least slowing memory loss:

• Exercise
Moderate daily exercise, meaning 20-30 minutes at least three times a week if not every single day, of walking, swimming, aerobics, or anything else that gets your body and blood and other associated fluids moving, is good for your mind and brain.
• Diet
A diet high in fresh fruit and vegetables, and fiber from whole grains and legumes, and low in nutrition-free calories and saturated fats, will keep your body and your mind in good shape.

A diet high in saturated fats and nutrition-free calories (sugar, soda, candy, fast-food) is undeniably linked with hypertension and diabetes. These conditions are linked to memory problems. Also, the higher your blood pressure, the greater your likelihood of a stroke, which can permanently and irreversibly impair mental function.


• Monounsaturated fats
Fats like olive oil have an important protective benefit for the brain.
• Antioxidants
in the diet also help the aging brain.
• Nutritional supplements
are also necessary after a certain age. Of these, the most important for memory function are Vitamins B6 and B12.

You might be taking a B-complex daily, and consider that sufficient. However, recent studies are showing that the older you are, the more difficulty you have absorbing Vitamin B12, which plays a crucial role in memory and nerve function.

Vitamin B6 (pyridoxine) deficiency is common among people over age 65. A study of healthy men, aged 70 to 79 years, showed that supplementation with pyridoxine for 3 months improved memory performance, especially long-term memory (unable to find a cite at present). However, deficiency of this important vitamin may begin much earlier, especially if your gastric system is not in good working order. You should not take more than 2 mg of Vitamin B6 per day unless under the supervision of a physician. However, you should inform your physician of all nutritional supplements you take, and the amounts, including the nutritional value of your diet.

Vitamin B12 can improve cognitive function in elderly people who have been diagnosed with a B12 deficiency. Cognitive impairment is an important manifestation of vitamin B12 deficiency. Cognitive decline due to low levels of vitamin B12 is a greater problem in elderly individuals since cobalamin deficiency increases with advancing age. Supplementation with vitamin B12 showed improvements in cognitive function among elderly people with vitamin B12 deficiency and cognitive decline, even in people without obvious signs of B12 deficiency.

I take a high dose of B12 combined with the RDA for B6 in a no-shot pill that dissolves on the tongue.


• Other nutrients (nutraceuticals?) shown to improve memory:
  • Lecithin;
  • zinc;
  • iron;
  • ginseng.

Fish oil, preferably derived from fatty fish like sardines, salmon, mackerel, etc., in their natural state, is also excellent for the heart and brain. I'm a little leery of fish oil capsules which make you burp fish for hours and are much likelier to go rancid when not associated with a fresh, fresh filet of fish.

The latest issue of Science News has an article on the beneficial effects of turmeric, which is the spice that gives the yellow colour to curry powder. I haven't read the study, but the spousal equivalent assures me that it was tested in curry powder form, and prevents the buildup of plaque in the brain. I don't use commercial curry powder ever since I learned to make my own, but I will investigate further. I highly recommend the use of turmeric, which has many health benefits (that I will research and cite in due time). It is used to impart a golden colour and a slightly astringent flavour to foods.

Use it sparingly on any animal product - fish, eggs, meat - or in vegetables. I will post recipes in due time.

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Environment - Global Warming

Recently, the esteemed Ms. Manitoba asked me why I was so fucking paranoid about global warming and the melting of the polar ice caps (I'm paraphrasing, so don't you beat on me now!). I was trying to explain to her that I'm very troubled by the thought of the sea level rising, because most human settlements around the world are near the coast or near any source of fresh water. They have to be. Humans cannot survive without water for drinking, bathing, cooking, and cleaning. Much of civilization - most large towns and cities - are coastal. And when the polar icecaps melt, they will raise water levels by meters, not by inches.

I was wondering if there were any resources that would help me visualize my concerns. Then I found this:


This is an aerial view of Atlantic City, New Jersey.

This is the same view if the sea level rises 1.5 meters.

Better buy swimming/boating/fishing gear now, I say. Go look at the rest of the pictures. Pretty damned scary.

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Science - Storm Update

I don't know why, but weather patterns are definitely changing. Any gardener could tell you that. And, of course, the victims of such changes. The death toll in Australia is higher than originally estimated. Death toll in Oman here. Flash floods in Switzerland.
And the red tide is spreading in Hong Kong.

I wonder if anyone is tallying all the environmental disasters that seem to be occuring and comparing the data? It seems as if there are more storms, more severe, that drought is hitting some parts of the world, and cyclones, storms, hurricanes and floods are hitting others. I wish I had an apron. I'd throw it over my head and run around in circles, screaming.

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Health News This Week

Will be divided into a series of small segments, on Sandy-la's advice. We'll see if it works.

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