update on officemate's cats

Both were in the neighborhood.

One has been recovered fine and is back inside safe.

The other is still in panic mode and skittish, but hovers around the area.  She won't come close to people, but she's been at least approaching the food they're leaving out for her.

When officemate's a little more relaxed about it, I'll ask about disease concerns.  They're young enough that they should be up to date on feline leukemia vaccines.

sheesh, McCain, get to the latter half of the 2000 decade will you?

Not only is this nutcase talking nothing but the "party line", but it's the party line as so declared 5 years ago. NONE of the Republicans are using this useless and outdated rhetoric anymore...who the hell does he hope to appease with this tripe?

Stranger Fruit: McCain on Roe vs Wade:

McCain also vowed that if elected, he would appoint judges who "strictly interpret the Constitution of the United States and do not legislate from the bench."

Fuck you, McCain. You're done. You're actually trying to out reactionary the reactionaries and this country doesn't need to take one more step backwards into the shitholes we've finally started to get away from. We're just now realizing we need to clean our shoes and you want to go traipsing through the shit-infested pig stye for more.

Screw the NAB, while we're at it.

Satellite Radio Firms Plan To Merge - washingtonpost.com:

The proposed XM-Sirius merger will face opposition from the National Association of Broadcasters, the trade group of AM and FM radio stations, and local television stations, which has fought the satellite radio services on various fronts since their inception.

"Given the government's history of opposing monopolies in all forms, NAB would be shocked if federal regulators permitted a merger of XM and Sirius," NAB spokesman Dennis Wharton said in a statement. "In coming weeks, policymakers will have to weigh whether an industry that makes Howard Stern its poster child should be rewarded with a monopoly platform for offensive programming."

The NAB has fought XM's rollout of local traffic and weather channels, now in 21 areas, including the District and Baltimore. The NAB says the move violates the spirit of the FCC's intention to license a national satellite radio service. Radio stations in those areas fear losing advertising to XM, which airs commercials on its traffic and weather reports, unlike its music channels.

Fuck you, Wharton. You of ALL people shouldn't be out there telling anybody (much less trying to be spokesman for the FCC, which you're NOT) what the hell competition is and what it means as you've presided over the most disguisting consolidation of a market into non-competitive commodities since the american auto industry turned into the "big three".

If you shitheads can't maintain a decent profit because you're not offering stuff that people ACTUALLY WANT TO HEAR, then fuck you. Don't go crying to the FCC to take away the one thing that would actually make your companies IMPROVE THEIR SERVICES.

it's been pointed out by others, but...

Mitt Romney really needs to read the f'in' Constitution he claims to want to uphold.

Romney: We need to have a person of faith lead the country.

The Constitution: No person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United States, at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to that office who shall not have attained to the age of thirty five years, and been fourteen Years a resident within the United States.

and later: ...no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.

So Romney, take your lack of education, your naked bigotry, and your willingness to deflect your own minority status by picking on an even smaller (and more hated) minority, AND SHOVE IT UP YOUR ASS.

God I'm getting pissed at the Right Wing today...

Daddy's little girl indeed?

BPS RESEARCH DIGEST: It's thanks to Dad that girls are more cautious than boys:

Part of the reason boys tear around recklessly having more accidents while girls are more cautious is no doubt due to their biological differences. But it could also have to do with parents treating young boys and girls differently. Now Lisa Hagan and Janet Kuebli have found tentative evidence that it is principally fathers, as opposed to mothers, who are responsible for treating girls and boys differently.

The researchers filmed 80 young children (average age 4 years) completing a mini obstacle course. The children were accompanied by one of their parents: there were 27 mothers and sons; 22 mothers and daughters; 13 fathers and sons; and 18 fathers and daughters. The researchers focused on how the parents behaved during their children's completion of two key obstacles: a five foot long beam suspended 1 and ½ feet off the ground; and a bridge (with safety railings) linking two ladders. The parents were told the study was investigating motor development in children.

In terms of how close they stayed to the children, and whether they shadowed their actions, the mothers' behaviour appeared similar whether they were with a son or daughter. By contrast, fathers with daughters tended to stand closer and shadowed their daughters' actions more closely, than did fathers with sons.

The researchers said: “The results from this study support the role of fathers as important gender socialising agents, in that it was fathers, not mothers, who differentially monitored their sons and daughters during risky situations”. In other words, Dads mollycoddle their daughters.