Farewell, Old Friend

When you bring a pet into your home, it’s a form of Faustian bargain. Pets bring a lot of joy into a life – but their own lifespans are relatively short. You know the day will come when you have to say goodbye to your much-loved friend, and that day is always much too soon. Today was the day I had to say goodbye to my sweet companion of the last 17+ years, my cat Tina.

Tina came into my life in the summer of 1987 via the North Shore Animal League. This is a not very good scan of her then.

Over the years she lived in Poughkeepsie, New York, and San Francisco, and despite preferring people to other animals she managed to live with 7 different cats and (briefly) one puppy. When Scott came on the scene, she took to him immediately and when I wasn’t around was more than happy to hang out with him (or just about anyone else). But through it all, her favorite person was me and her favorite place to be was on or near my lap.

Despite a diagnosis of progressive renal disease 3 years ago, Tina remained an active and happy cat until these last few weeks, when her disease progressed rapidly. This week, her kidneys finally shut down and she stopped eating. Scott and I knew we had one last vet visit to make. It was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do, but seeing her in pain was worse.

There’s a lot more I could say about Tina – stories from happier times – and perhaps one day I will, but for now I am just too sad. There are three other kitties in our home, and I love each one dearly, but Tina was my first pet and has a special place in my heart. I miss her very much.

‘Good’ News on Social Security

Kevin Drum has been on a roll lately with a two-part look at various long-term scenarios for Social Security privitization. Today’s post has some numbers which seem to show that SS is not in fact anywhere near broken. I’m not very well-informed on the details but it does look quite positive.

For what it’s worth, I am against the current privatization push for Social Security. I voiced my concerns on the issue a few weeks ago.

The bigger question that needs to be asked, and this is where the Democrats are, as ususal, not doing their job framing a coherent opposition, is, Why do the Republicans hate Social Security?

I’m tired

Have been working some EARLY mornings lately. I’m tired. There’s not much that screws up your personal sleep-wake cycle like having to wake up at 3:00AM to go to work one day, at 6:00AM the next day, and then 2 days later back to 3:00AM.

Despite the tiredness, I’m actually enjoying this gig. I wouldn’t want to be a barista for the rest of my life but for now it’s fun.

Still, it’s hard to blog when you get home and you’re too tired to think.

Once again I bow to the awesome Digby

Digby points the way to an amazing article by Davidson Loehr which looks at fundamentalism and draws some fascinating conclusions.

From 1988 to 1993, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences sponsored an interdisciplinary study known as The Fundamentalism Project, the largest such study ever done. More than 100 scholars from all over the world took part, reporting on every imaginable kind of fundamentalism. And what they discovered was that the agenda of all fundamentalist movements in the world is virtually identical, regardless of religion or culture.

They identified five characteristics shared by virtually all fundamentalisms.

Paraphrased from the original, these characteristics are:

1) Rules must be made to apply to all people, and to all areas of life. There can be no separation of church and state, or of public and private areas of life. The rigid rules of God

Pandagon and a Tinfoil Hat?

I have not done much political blogging since the election. That’s partly due to burnout and partly because the news in ‘political’ quarters these days seems so weird I don’t quite know whether to slap on a tinfoil hat, pack my bags for Canada, or laugh my butt off. Here’s a sample of what I mean:

Bush ’04: it’s not just about pursuing an agenda that Americans don’t think you have a mandate for anymore. It’s about punishing the people you *know* didn’t support the mandate.

Some conservative activists are urging the Bush administration to scrap the federal deduction for state and local taxes as part of a broader plan to revamp the nation’s tax system.

[…]

A proposal to eliminate the deduction for local and state taxes on federal tax returns would affect blue states more than it would red states. In 2002, two-thirds of the $184 billion claimed under the deduction was in states carried by Sen. John F. Kerry. About a third of the total was in just two states, New York and California.

We’ve stepped past the actual pursuit of a conservative (or whatever the hell they think they are today) agenda towards an agenda that’s just punitive towards “liberals”. And by “liberals”, we mean people who live in blue states, regardless of their income. Think of all those poor Orange County conservatives, those upstate New York Republicans…hell, think of us poor bastards in Ohio – the lynchpin to Bush’s reelection, and we still get reamed by his tax plans.

I definitely agree that eliminating the deductability of all state and local taxes is a bad idea. But is it really a deliberate attack at blue states and/or liberals? Have things become that politicized?

I tend to doubt it. I suspect that this is ideology driven (if you can call BushCo’s belief in “screw the 95% for the benefit of the rich” an ideology) more than some kind of attack on the liberals. But who knows? These days I don’t know what to believe.

So as I said, I’m not posting as much about politics until I can get a better sense of what the hell is going on.

I Love Hormel!

Over the years, Hormel has gracefully handled their flagship brand’s name becoming associated with the tidal wave of junk e-mail permeating the Internet. Now, they’re going one step better.

A play called “Monty Python’s Spamalot” is headed for Broadway, and Hormel Foods Corp. is laughing.

Based on the movie “Monty Python and the Holy Grail,” the musical begins previews Feb. 14 at New York’s Shubert Theatre. It will run in Chicago from Dec. 21 to Jan. 23.

Hormel plans to issue Spam golden honey grail in a collector’s edition can. The product will be available in limited quantities at select New York City retailers in February.

For those who can’t wait, cans will be given to the first 100 customers who purchase tickets when the Shubert box office opens Dec. 6.

“Spam is the holy grail of canned meats,” Eric Idle, a Monty Python veteran and lyricist and book writer for the new musical, said in a recent statement.

“Spamalot,” directed by Mike Nichols, stars David Hyde Pierce, Tim Curry and Hank Azaria.

Idle has said the musical will be “as good as or quite likely better than any other show with killer rabbits and a legless knight opening on Broadway or in Chicago this season.”

Hormel spokeswoman Julie Craven said company executives who have read the script said it’s hysterical, and company leaders including chief executive Joel Johnson plan to attend the show’s New York opening.

Rock on, Hormel!