Cutie-pie is not always what you think.

A friend, nearly thirty years ago now, had an insufferable ass of a lavender point Siamese, with all her slenderosity and highfalutin' airs. She came in heat and became the most FRIENDLY, whorish, trashy little thing you ever saw. So one day, my friend (Jennifer) and I were having coffee at her place, and her daughter (3 years old) says, "Kitty likes Q-tips!" We turned to see the child with a handful of swabs, being followed by the slutty little beast. The cat is pulling herself along the carpet around the kid, belly to the floor, tail all swept off to Joneses like they do when they're begging for a train, and as she wiggles and swishes about we see that there is a Q-tip protruding from the cat's nether region. The kid says proudly, "See?" and somewhere between taking the swabs away from the kid, getting the one out of the cat, and trying not to die laughing, we decided that kitty's name should henceforth be QT-Pie. For all the appropriate and punny reasons.

Some People's Mornings.

This is an account of how some people's mornings begin:

My day began at 0500, after a fitful night’s sleep, due to barking dogs and a heat pump on the fritz.

I ventured down the hall to the bathroom for a shower. Upon my arrival at the bathroom, I discovered an ant-infested pile of what appeared to be discarded dipping tobacco. I used the only immediately available substance, cinnamon-scented air freshener, to kill the ants… Or at least annoy them. They curled up in a ball and were cold, unhappy, and stank of the air freshener. Their reception back at the nest would be amusing. Having stunned the ants with stench and CO2, I then retrieved some toilet paper to dispose of the offending blob.

As I went to drop the blob in the toilet, I was shocked to find something already occupying the toilet. It was a TURD. It was the approximate size of a baby’s arm in length and girth, extending down out of sight into the flush opening, with several inches protruding above the waterline, resting against the side of the bowl. It was a rather impressive specimen, being uniform in thickness and apparent consistency throughout its length. It possessed a medium-brown nut-like color, and showed no signs of its producer having consumed corn, peanuts, or any similar edibles recently.

Resting on top of the offending fecal log was a minute quantity of used toilet paper. I was troubled by the fact that the individual who produced this monstrosity had failed to flush the toilet despite having achieved adulthood. I was even more alarmed by the fact that the aforementioned toilet paper scrap was drastically insufficient to have effected a clean ass of the size that could have produced such a monumental pile of shit.

The only conclusion I can draw from this observation is that residing on my house is an individual with no manners, an incredibly elastic anus, and more skid marks in his shorts than can be found on the Talladega Motor Speedway. The truly sad part was that had this reprehensible and mannerless creature attempted to flush the immense creation, it would have gone away very easily, being point-down and not sideways in the bowl. It left rapidly, and I only wished that the assaultive stink, reminiscent of baked camel ass, had followed it down the pipes with the cinnamon-smelling ants, and not remained as a unpleasant mnemonic for the current occupant of the bathroom.

Glorious.

The Great Divide

This is the divide between conservatives (my side) and liberals, completely objectively: We agree there are problems, but we disagree about the causes and the solutions. This one concept covers all the issues, as far as I can tell.
Mostly, conservatives seem to see the decline of personal responsibility as one of the major causes of a great many problems, and we see minimizing the "nanny state" as a way to force the return of that value and behavior. It appears to us that liberals want to grow the "nanny state" as a way of further caring for those who will not care for themselves, and thereby creating more of that sort.
Liberals claim that conservatives are selfish, but we see that as ridiculous, because it is more selfish to want hard workers to work to support the do-nothings. 

Cinderella Story

  We acquired a new feline roommate today. She has been welcomed and cultivated since her advent on our property, though I am sure she doesn't much appreciate it right now. She is currently in hiding in the space between the tub and the sink cabinet in the master bath, and has had food, water, and a litter box provisioned where she can easily make use of all. The other residents have limited access.
  Her grandfather (or possibly great-grandfather...) CinderFace was a magnificently, unabashedly imperfect, simultaneously regal and humble blue-point Siamese tomcat that squawked his way into our hearts some time ago. His demise, untimely, unfortunate, and sorrowful, caused our (my spouse and I) resolution to secure and provide for any of his ilk we happened upon.
  Cinderella, as she has been designated, has her ?grandfather?'s crossed blue eyes and his point coloration, though more of the original genetics of the seal-point have come through in her. She has her mother's stripes, at least on her tail, and on part of her back. She is a beautiful little bundle.
  She does, however, have the requisite claws, which I discovered to my chagrin upon attempting to calm her. There wasn't much blood. A good hand-washing and some antiseptic spray (Yes, that same shit my mother used on me when I was four and which caused me to complain loudly) fixed it very nicely, thank you, and I do not anticipate any debilitating scars.
  I am contemplating the fact that we had decided not to acquire further roommates. In light of the debt we feel we owe the ancestor of this little girl-cat, we had no real choice. The other acquisitions were for other reasons. But the upshot of this is that we are the proud parents of one teenaged, rambunctious male human, seven cats of varying ages, one rather stupid but beautiful purebred beagle, and a large black puffball nominally known as Jynx, whom we believe to be a dog but there is some argument in favor of him being a very small, intelligent and good-tempered bear.

Frustration

Life is such a bizarre creature.
It has become clear that things are getting really weird in the world today. The flippin' Oscars and that bunch of BS. The Russians invade Crimea. Again. Obama and Obama and Obama. The Supreme Court. 4th Amendment. Syria. Putin. Billary.
I hear Hillary has no modesty whatsoever and is absolutely hideous prior to her daily morning makeover.
 Here's my plot: Get rid of every elected official currently in office. Get all new ones, who have never held any elected office before.
Make all the bailed-out companies pay back the money that they were bailed out with.
Instead of paying the companies directly, do this: Take every legal US Citizen over the age of 18, assign to each $1 million. Run this through the credit bureaus and pay off that amount of debt for each, and remit to each person the remainder of the cash. The people with little or no debt would get most or all of the $1 million, and those with lots of debt would get little or nothing. Then freeze prices for two years.
Revamp the tax laws to a flat tax for all: Herman Cain's idea sounded pretty good. Take the tax before remitting the balances to the people getting anything back. 9% of a million each....
This would pay off the car manufacturers, the banks, the mortgage companies, credit card companies, and help the economy.  It wouldn't be any worse than what was done, and it would be far more ethical of the politicians.
Why were the politicians so eager to help the companies directly and leave the populace which they are sworn to obey and serve groaning under their burdens? They really don't care about the people of the Nation. They care about lining their own pockets. Every blasted one of them.

Being American

Three-quarters of my mother's grandparents came to America in the late 1800s from the Azores. They insisted that their children speak English and learn to do most things the American way. Food, arts, and music were passed on from the Portuguese Azorean culture, but pride in nation was all American. They were proud to gain citizenship, and proud that their children would have opportunities in America that their tiny islands would never have made available. I am proud of my Azorean heritage, but make no mistake, I am an American. A Veteran. An appreciative exerciser of my freedoms and rights. And I want our culture to remain American, even as we give a nod to the history from which we sprang, even as we smile seeing things from our various nations of heritage. My loyalty and my heart are in America.

A perspective, for your entertainment.

This is what a friend of mine asked me a while back:
Okay friend, gimme your side on this! And take as long as you want...
 The following is from someone named Robert Reich.

{The best (and only good) thing to come out of the government shutdown and possible default is the awakening of a large portion of the public to what today's Republican Party is really up to. In an NBC/Wall Street Journal survey released Thursday evening, just 24% have a favorable opinion of Republicans while 47% have a favorable opinion of the President. According other polls, if the 2014 election were held today Democrats would have a good chance of winning 24 Republican-held House districts, giving them control of the House.

Are Republican supporters in the white working class coming to realize that the GOP's faux populism masks a dogged defense of the privileged and powerful? For years Republicans have used their snake-oil "trickle-down" economics to justify lower taxes on the wealthy and corporations, even though nothing has trickled down. They've described the poor as "takers" in order to distract attention from the reality of declining median incomes, even as almost all economic gains go to the very top. Their drumbeat against big government has disguised the torrent of money they've raised from the wealthy, big corporations, and Wall Street, in exchange for special tax breaks, loopholes, and subsidies that entrench privilege and power. Is this elaborate masquerade now coming to a close?}

This is my response:
I am not going to debate his opinions in the first paragraph, because they are his opinions.
I will never be voting liberal, be it Democrat or Republican.
So the voting, if it were up to just me, would go to the group most willing to repeal Obamacare (and come up with something better and more comprehensible, that includes being able to buy insurance across state lines and tort reform), quit screwing with gun rights, make gay marriage and abortion a states' issue rather than federal, get their hands out of my pockets, and quit deciding FOR me who my charity should support.
I do not want what I didn't EARN honestly, and neither should anyone else.
I want to help all those who CAN'T help themselves, but (and this is true no matter how few or how many there are) I will be glad to let those who WON'T help themselves starve.
I pay attention to the people around me and the things they say, I watch what goes on right in front of my eyes: NOT ON TV.
I go look at things being put out by people who don't agree with me.
I have come to the conclusion that sneakiness and dishonesty are rampant in every government entitlement system. People who were first allowed to use the welfare system (and I have used it, short-term as was intended) are ushering their grandchildren into it, and their great-grandchildren. That system was supposed to be a stepping-stone to social productivity and becoming an asset to the nation, one's family, and one's community. This is not what has occurred, in too many cases. I do not deny that there should be a safety net.....but it should not be used to live one's entire life in. The truly incapable of helping themselves are a different story. They deserve our help and as decent folk we should help them. But each person should decide where what they earn should go for charitable purposes, not the government.
I support complete replacement of the tax code with something sensible and very different, be it the Flat Tax, Fair Tax, 9-9-9, or one of the others that makes SO much more sense than the train wreck of a tax code we have now. If everyone just paid 10%, it would be fair. People making $10 million would pay their 10%, people making $100,000 would pay theirs, and people making $10,000 would pay theirs. No loopholes. At all. For anyone. No breaks. At ALL. The rich would still pay more in than the poor, but everyone's percentage would be equal. I can get behind that. I don't want any tax breaks, bailouts, or BS any more.
I am nowhere near rich, I promise you. But what I believe is this: By letting people not be tested, strained, pushed, put in any adversity, or have to think for themselves, we do all Humanity a disservice. The greatest innovations come when we have to work for it. Great people and great advances are not made from or by people with nothing to work for. We need adversity, struggle, conflict, the daily striving for our living. Without that, we become soft, lazy, and complacent, and that will be the end of us all.
I see the liberal attitude as a "make it easy for everyone" perspective. I don't want to make it easy for everyone. I just want the FREEDOM for it to be POSSIBLE for everyone, but only if they work for it. I have had to, and I have begun again several times. I earned what I have, and I am proud of that even if it's not much. I would rather be living in a shack in an alley that I earned than in a mansion I stole or that was given to me, especially if it was taken from someone who actually DID earn it.
When I was very well-off, and when I was in the Army, I often fed the homeless or hungry, paid for urgent care visits for them, paid bills for people who had some bad luck after working hard for most of their lives.
I do not defend the heartless and cruel, I will not defend such as the ever evil and awful Monsanto...They are AWFUL. But if a person has earned what they have, taking it away and giving it to someone who has not worked hard is stealing.
A question that makes sense to me is : How much of what you earned does your neighbor deserve to get? The answer, as far as I am concerned, is : as much as you give of your own free choice. I know I would give more if I had more left over. I know that my healthcare costs actually exceed what I pay out of pocket yearly for care.
And I know that I hear people in the halls and markets laughing because they have six Obamaphones, and they just got their sibling's kids on their welfare and hers, too....... Not isolated incidents of hearing about fraud or abuse that literally takes money from my pocket. I see people at convenience stores buying beer with EBT cards when I go in to pay for gas or get a bottle of water. I see these same people driving late model expensive cars and bragging about "having the system down." What exactly am I supposed to think?
Anyway, I am not in favor of the big companies' behavior, but don't think that means I want to go on paying for people that won't work.
I want to change the taxes and regulations to make a better environment for smaller businesses, I want to outlaw GMO foods, I want to get people excited about working hard to get to better places rather than sit still in a barely adequate place because it's safe. I want to pitch out ALL of the career politicians and do the whole mess like jury duty. I want to be able to pass on a country that values hard work and strength of character to my grandchildren and children. Am I answering your questions? If not, please be specific.

Thought y'all might want to comment or just see this.