Magnificent Creatures

Although we shouldn’t have spent the money, Mary Ann and I went to Providence, Rhode Island and thereabouts recently for a short vacation.  I’ll be throwing up (poor choice of words) some highlights.  First we have the whale-watching tour.  Yes, it’s kind of hokey, and there were a lot of the same kind of people who call whales “fish,” but the whales themselves were incredible.  It’s one thing to see them on TV, but quite another to see them close-up.  I’m not a photographer and don’t have the equipment to do them justice, but here goes anyway.  The photos are probably better than the video:

done

Morticians And Taxidermists With Too Much Time On Their Hands

Southwest Chicago correspondent Nancy, along with Josh (who was bitten by a wallaby, hahahahaha!) recently traveled to various locations in Wisconsin to see strange things.  Among them were a funeral home in Madison where the director and taxidermist friends have set up numerous scenes of squirrels, including the rare albino ones, participating in human activities.  The squirrels, by the way, died of natural causes such as being hit by golf balls.  Well, maybe that’s not a really natural cause.  Anyway, no squirrels were harmed to make of the tableaux.

Words alone cannot adequately depict this veritable squirrel necropolis, so here are some pictures:

I’d like to see someone do this with Republicans.  It would be OK to harm them, though.

Well, I Thought I Was Clever

Last night Mary Ann and I were talking about Chinese food.  She mentioned that she’d heard of lo mein, but didn’t know exactly what it was.  I said I thought it had something to do with totem poles.

She didn’t get it.

Georgia On My Mind

I think the press and our government are being unfair to Russia right now.

As I understand it, South Ossetia, which borders Russia, is full of ethnic Russians and by and large would really rather be part of Russia, where it would be reunited with North Ossetia.  Around 1994, South Ossetia (along with Abkhazia) fought a bloody war with Georgia (itself a former breakaway republic) and gained a measure of de facto independence.

Mikheil Saakashvili, the “leader” of Georgia and a career academic and sycophant of America who transitioned directly into a thug politician, decided he didn’t like South Ossetian independence.  So, on August 7th (or early on the 8th) he launched a huge sneak attack on Tskhinvali, the South Ossetian capitol.  Artillery fire and missiles rained down on the city, causing immense damage and killing numerous civilians.

As one might imagine, Russia didn’t take too kindly to this.  So, Russia attacked and beat the everloving crap out of Georgia.  Immediately, Saakashvili, who would have to be dumber than a pithed frog to not know this would happen, began crying to the western media about how the big bad Russians were picking on poor little Georgia.  A lot of the media bought his story hook, line and sinker.  I’ve sure heard a lot more about the Russian attack on Georgia than Georgia’s attack on South Ossetia, which started the whole conflagration.

Of course, dumbass George Bush, who probably thinks this is the Georgia Ray Charles wrote the song about, reflexively came out and slammed Russia.  I mean, how dare someone except us violate the territorial integrity of a foreign country!  Of course, the distinction, as explained by our UN ambassador, is that people shouldn’t violate the territorial integrity of countries in Europe.  It’s OK in other places, like wherever we happen to be doing it.

Now, there are two sides to this story, and a lot more to it than can be covered in a few paragraphs.  My point is that, to hear about it in many American media outlets, Russia is entirely at fault.  That isn’t true.   Saakashvili appears to be a pathological liar, which is no doubt one of the traits that has endeared him to the Bush administration.  He stated on Wednesday that the United States was readying to take over airports and ports in the former Georgia.  Hey, let’s try to trigger a world war while we’re at it, Mikheil!  Luckily, even we aren’t that stupid, and we instantly made it clear that we wouldn’t be going in there.  Whew!

To go back to my original point, while I’m no big fan of Russia, their response to what Georgia did is somewhat understandable.   We have lost our moral standing to judge them, as far as I’m concerned.  Maybe we should keep our nose out of everybody else’s business and worry a little bit more about our own.  Also, would someone please point out to the American media and government that the Cold War has been over for a while, and that we don’t really need a new one?

Reason Number 623 To Not Bother With The Olympics

A lot of the the other reasons are more serious — you know, the way the Chinese treat their people and all that — but a good reason to not bother with the Olympics is the sheer triviality of so many of the events.  About a third of the Chinese medals have been won in the 3 and 10-meter tandem diving events.  Who the hell cares?  How many tandem divers are competing in the world?  Fifteen?  Oops…I guess it would have to be sixteen.

Even worse, they’re giving out medals in 10-meter air-rifle shooting.  What’s next?  Slingshotting?  Rockem Sockem Robots?  That little football game you play with folded-up paper on your desk?  This is absurd.  Look at this picture of the winner, Abhinav Bindra of India:

I believe he has been assimilated.

I Guess It’s Okay, Then

John Edwards, who had an affair while his wife was suffering from cancer, made it a point to explain that when he began the affair, she was in remission.  No, I’m not making this up.

Don’t Know Why There’s No Sun Up In The Sky…

This is primarily for the non-Chicagoans among you.  On August 3rd, we had quite a nasty storm here, one comparable to any I’ve seen in a bad horror movie.  I just read today that northern Illinois had 90,000 lightning strikes in a four-hour period that night, as much as we usually receive in six-months.  There were three tornadoes, none in Chicago proper but nearby.  The one in Bolingbrook was a little too nearby, as far as I’m concerned.  done

Tough Times For Bonkers

Mr. Bonkers isn’t doing well.  Although the vets don’t know precisely what’s wrong, he’s suffering from severe fluid build-up in his lungs, pericardial sac (which surrounds the heart) and abdomen.  He’s extremely listless, although seemingly not in actual pain.  His breathing is becoming labored.  He doesn’t move much.  The vets are suddenly using words like “end-stage,” although they seemingly failed to diagnose the beginning stage and middle stage.

We’re proceeding with more antibiotics.  We’re also reducing the huge amount of prednisone he’s taking.  Prednisone depresses the immune system.  With the dose Bonkers was on, he became susceptible to all kinds of infections, and some of them may be happening now.

I never thought the illness of a cat could make it difficult for me to function and focus on my daily tasks.  I was wrong.  And as heartbroken as I am, Mary Ann is that much worse.  I keep telling myself that if it wasn’t for us, Mr. Bonkers might not have made it out of that shelter to enjoy five of the most-loved years a cat ever had.  That isn’t much consolation at the moment.

Still, we have not given up.