Zell Miller speaks out

Speaking of an entertainer, who was exercising his free speech rights, however tastlessly, "He should be tarred and feathered and ridden out of this country on a rail. Talk about a good reality show, there's one for you."

On the separation of church and state:

"Everyone today seems to think that the U.S. Constitution expressly provides for separation of church and state. Ask any ten people if that's not so. And I'll bet you most of them will say "Well, sure." And some will point out, "It's in the First Amendment."

Wrong! Read it! It says, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." Where is the word "separate"? Where are the words "church" or "state"?

They are not there. Never have been. Never intended to be.

On parties:

Dr. Rush was asked, are you a democrat or an aristocrat? And the good doctor answered, "I am neither. I am a Christocrat. I believe He, alone, who created and redeemed man is qualified to govern him." That reply of Benjamin Rush is just as true today in the year of our Lord 2004 as it was in the year of our Lord 1776.

from a transcrip of his remarks in the Senate reported by Salon
You folks in Georgia grow 'em strong and pungent. This is a Democrat? What the hell are your Republicans like?

cats up to no good

The kittens (and I suspect Nicholas in particular) get bored of sleeping, watching wildlife, and chasing/wrestling with each . And then bad things happen. Nick doesn't like that he can't go upstairs much anymore, so he's tearing up the (brand new) carpeting by the inter-apartmental door (I wish the morons who had put it in had put down a treader or a flange or whatever you call those things--now I'm going to have to--instead of just butting it to the threshold).

Nick's also figured out how to open all the cupboards and drawers in the kitchen and bathroom and climb in and out. Which is cute right now, but when there are pots and pans in the kitchen drawers that I don't really want to have to rewash every time someone who's just been in the litter box climbs on them, it will be less cute.

I may have to stop putting things on the shelves by the kitchen door; he knocks things off there, and knocked a bottle of Kaluha off the counter reaching for the shelves. The *cap* broke, but not the bottle (small mercies...); not much spilled.

Best (?) of all was when I stumbled into the kitchen one morning after they'd all gotten me up to feed them. I groggily thought "I didn't leave a light on did I?" and then saw that the *fridge* was open. I think I hadn't fully closed it the night before, but if they can open it when fully closed we have big problems (not least of which would be a cat getting shut in the fridge by accident--Nick loves climbing in there...)

And there's the fighting, and the waking me up on *their* schedule (I actually shut them all out of the bedroom this morning, and they took it pretty well), the knocking over anything moveable (piles of books and papers, chess pieces). I daren't leave games set up. They pick up game figures and carry them around (someone hid a 15mm English Civil War musketeer for months).

But whenever I'm sick (like last weekend) they instantly switch into "look after the human mode". And they're frequently affectionate (even GIlbert, Mr Grumpy, has been almost friendly lately). And they're so damn cute...

interview with Ursula LeGuin

Thanks to originalgaiman for pointing me to this interview transcript in the Guardian.

the things you find through other people's journals...

Amusing dissection of a Magic Eight Ball

another amusing site

Something else I have to thank originalgaiman for.

Janet's tit

Yes, I live on Pluto, so this is the first I've actually seen of the famous booby.

*This* is what all the fuss is about?

Man we live in a fucked up country when this is a week's worth of news leads when we're in the middle of a war...

another example of why our federal system is silly

from the Washington Post, implications of differening state laws on same-sex marriage

When are we going to give up this nonsensical pretence that the U.S. is fifty different individual nations, mildly connected for a few larger purposes? This is *one* country, people!