More Friday Kitty Blogging

Since the wankiferous guest hosts at Eschaton won't give you kitties, I shall. A stoned one, no less.

Lawyering Up

The WAPO makes a point I hadn't thought of yesterday (in my fever addled state.) Harriet Miers was pushed, because she's not considered capable of defending chimpy and co. against the coming onslaught of congressional investigations.

Miers, a longtime Bush loyalist whose nomination to the Supreme Court was withdrawn in 2005 as a result of conservative opposition, led an office that will oversee legal clashes that could erupt if Democrats aggressively use their new subpoena power. Bush advisers inside and outside the White House concluded that she is not equipped for such a battle and that the president needs someone who can strongly defend his prerogatives.

snip

...Four other lawyers have been hired as associate counsels in recent weeks to fill vacancies, and White House officials have discussed expanding the office, which -- with a dozen lawyers -- is far smaller than it was under President Bill Clinton, who faced legal battles on multiple fronts.

I'm guessing preznitting isn't going to be nearly as fun without a tame congress. Tant pis.

As for Miers, I guess being a complete suck up only gets you so far. In the end, she was expendable too. Linky here: Miers Steps Down as White House Gears Up for Battle

Friday Happy Maxx picture

Maxx is feeling fine this morning. The fentanyl patch seems to be keeping him nice and comfortable. The pic above is from this summer. What a handsome kitty!!

Pelosi, Bitches!!!

These pictures have got to be driving the wingnuts crazy. Hee hee.

Happy Maxx picture

Celebrate the plush!!

Maxx update

Well, I'll get right to the bottom line. I've spent the last two days consulting with Maxx's current and new oncologists, as well as the two excellent general care veterinarians who have been treating him for the past year and a half.

The consensus of everyone is that the experimental treatment isn't appropriate for Maxx. The treatment is best for small tumors that are localized, and no bigger than 5 centimeters. Maxx's tumor is too big, to spread out, and involves too much tissue. The new oncologist would have taken a more traditional approach, using radiation combined with chemotherapy mainly as a palliative measure. Both oncologists agree that radiation in Maxx's case would probably be either debilitating or fatal.

He was very clear. In the best cases, cats with this cancer, who have the very best chance, only have a 30% survival rate at one year. Maxx's cancer is very advanced. When he was in the hospital last week, the emergency vet did xrays of his skull- it showed that the tumor has gone into his throat, and has done significant damage to his jaw bone.

We could attempt to try these measures, but they would likely destroy what's left of his quality of life. The radiation would probably result in him getting a feeding tube. For cancer in the jaw, vets frequently remove a portion of the jaw, which not only disfigures the cat, but can cause significant other side effects. And the survival rate is only about 40%.

There just aren't any good options left for him at this point. After a lot of soul searching, I've decided not to subject Maxx to a lot of painful treatments that have little chance of helping him.

He deserves to spend the rest of his life in dignity and comfort, eating delicious paté and playing with delightful toys. And that's what he's going to do.

I know the community would like there to be a miracle for him and in some way I feel like I'm letting you down. But I have to do what's right for my beloved boy. Condemning him to spending his last months to a regime of feeding tubes and painful treatments just doesn't seem like the right thing.

For today, we've switched him over to a fentanyl patch so that his pain relief will be constant. It seems to be making him feel rather frisky, which is a nice side effect. In any event, he's been eating fairly well the past couple days, which is a very good thing.

I want to thank everyone again for all of the love and support you've given to Maxx and me over the past several months. Honestly, I don't know what I would have done without you.

Milestones

Plush Life went over 50,000 hits this evening, 6 days before our one-year anniversary. I am amazed and grateful to everyone who tunes in everyday to spend time with me and the lion kitty.

Peace!!

Decider Decides He's Already Decided

AP/Pablo Martinez Monsivais

Via the NYTimes (and oh, aren't they getting a little snarky lately?), chimpy tries to regain initiative by looking ahead... to being exactly like he's been all along.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 3 — President Bush sought today to regain the initiative on the eve of the Democratic takeover of Congress, pledging to work enthusiastically with the new lineup of lawmakers but holding fast to his own goals.

Offering his congratulations to the incoming 110th Congress, Mr. Bush made it clear that he will resist being painted as a lame-duck president in his last two years — “one-quarter of my presidency, plenty of time to accomplish important things for the American people,” as he put it in an essay in The Wall Street Journal today.

In other words, he's enthusiastic about his idea that democrats should give him the same rubber stamp the republican party gave him.

Mr. Bush struck the same tone this morning in remarks after a Cabinet meeting. He voiced the hope that Democrats and Republicans alike “can find common ground to serve our folks,” and then sounded much as he did last summer and fall while campaigning for Republican candidates and positions. (my emphasis added)

Note to chimpy, when the NYTimes is calling you on your bullshit, the gig is up. Calling yourself a "tiger" doesn't change the fact that you're actually a lame-duck.

Or maybe a chimducken. Eeeeeeewwww.

More happy Maxx

We shall spend the day looking at happy Maxx photos. A boy and his peep menace the Eiffel Tower.

Happy Maxx photo

Because I can't stand looking at photos of him looking so miserable, here's an old photo of him before the cancer distorted his beautiful little face. I have a call into his regular vet to talk about the oncologist and to talk about getting him started on pain patches.

When I left this morning he was good and stoned. Unfortunately, the pain meds seem to wear off too quickly. He ate some last night, but was uninterested in having any breakfast.

Pundits who suck, Version 5.1.6b

The mustache bothers to opine on both Gerry Ford's funeral and Saddam's hanging, and manages to sound silly on both. : A Hanging and a Funeral (subscription required). Unfortunately, this column was not nearly as entertaining as the film "Four Weddings and a Funeral." I'll spare you most of the blather, but this one passage jumped out at me:

Saddam deserved to die 100 deaths. But imagine if Iraq’s Shiite leaders had surprised everyone, declared that there had been enough killing in Iraq and commuted Saddam’s sentence to life in prison — sparing his life in hopes of uniting the country rather than executing him and dividing it further. I don’t know if it would have helped, but I do know Iraqis have rarely surprised us with gestures of reconciliation — only with new ways to kill each other.

Gee. Imagine if we were the kind of country who had outlawed capital punishment? and that we had insisted that the Iraqis spare his life? Imagine if we had simply refused to turn Saddam over until we were certain that the execution wasn't going to turn into a grisly and appalling snuff film? And imagine if we hadn't invaded Iraq on nonsensical grounds and we hadn't ignited this civil war in the first place? And imagine if we hadn't backed a 'government' (a term I use in the loosest sense) that regularly engaged in ethnic cleansing? And how about if Friedman had actually thought about these things and written about them in his miserable column? Now that would have really surprised everyone!

Friedman is the perfect example of what's wrong in mainstream pundit-land. He was one of the main cheerleaders for the invasion, and now that it's all gone tragically wrong, he stands off to the side, tut-tutting and thinking, "My, how did THAT mess happen?"

I guess the moral of the story is that violence only begets violence, and wankers only beget wankerosity. Or something. Feh.

Late Night Lion Kitty

I am very worried about Maxx tonight. I have been unable to get him to do more than nibble on his food. It just seems to be too painful, and his pain meds don't seem to be working any longer. I'm not sure what to do for him.

Poor little guy. It's so unfair.

Daily Plush

Maxx doesn't understand what the fuss is all about. So he's taking a nap.

Commander Pissy-pants prepares to strike again

Commander Pissy-pants holds tight to his last supporter. Larry Downing/Reuters

The BBC is reporting that Bush intends to reveal his new Iraq strategy within days. Oh, goody. Of course the devil is in the details.

US President George W Bush intends to reveal a new Iraq strategy within days, the BBC has learnt.

The speech will reveal a plan to send more US troops to Iraq to focus on ways of bringing greater security, rather than training Iraqi forces.

Let's see. We just had an election here that sent a clear message that the American people want less troops in Iraq, not more. Further, the few military personnel who have said they actually support more boots on the ground, have been clear in saying that more troops should be for training purposes. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that Bush intends to do the exact opposite. Next?

The BBC has been told by a senior administration source that the speech setting out changes in Mr Bush's Iraq policy is likely to come in the middle of next week.

Its central theme will be sacrifice.

Sacrifice by whom, exactly? Not the Bush twins. Not any of the young republicans that I know.

The exact mission of the extra troops in Iraq is still under discussion, according to officials, but it is likely to focus on providing security rather than training Iraqi forces.

The proposal, if it comes, will be highly controversial. ( Ya think?)

Already one senior Republican senator has called it Alice in Wonderland.

I dunno, I'd just call it plain old pigheadedness. It's clear that Bush has been hearing a lot of advice of why we need to disengage, which is precisely why he's planning on escalating the war. These are the actions of a stubborn and immature chief executive who is incapable of admitting he was wrong, and who doesn't care how many people die for his mistake.

Allow me to make a prediction of what's going to happen here. We're going to get Bush's pet "surge" whether we want it or not. The troops are going to go in with new, robust rules of engagement. The new order of the day will be "gloves off." It will be Fallujah redux, on a far grander scale. Chimpy is going to order them to shoot anything and everything that appears even vaguely hostile, and hope that the American army is the only one left standing. All to satisfy his need to show that he was right, and we were all wrong.

The American public should be prepared for a spike in casualites, both American and Iraqi, because that's exactly what they're going to get.

Really, Bush is exactly like a spoiled-rotten teenager who asks his elders for advice, precisely so he can do the exact opposite just to spite them. It's time someone grounds him and locks him in his room before he can do any more damage.

I'm looking at you, new congress. It's time for you to stiffen your spines and take this little bastard on. Oh, and the first 'wise man pundit' in Washington who hails this clusterfuck as being "bold and decisive" gets my razor-sharp pitchfork up their ass.

Conservative Freaks

Regarding what Thers says about conservative freaks...

It's funny, but for all the whining about "identity politics," nobody is more tied to it than "movement conservatives." So tied to it, in fact, that they have to invent their own "intellectual tradition" out of old Norton Anthologies and a firm conviction that Edmund Burke would be high-fiving Alexis de Toqueville right now over the passage of the Patriot Act. More relevant to the Right Wankosphere, they're compelled to adopt a tortuous stance of "civil discourse" in order to pinch-hit for the intellectual capital they sense they lack, an attitude that in the end amounts to the contention that their insane enthusiasm for incompetent warmongering is a perfectly reasonable "intellectual position" simply because they don't use the word "fuck."

...anyone who spends five minutes either listening to or reading the blather that comes from these fucktards and doesn't say "fuck" is either braindead, or a winger-in-training.

I mean seriously, Red Dawn?

Extra plush

Maxx looks kind of silly with his new haircut. They shaved off some of his chin whiskers, making his face look funny. But he does have a bright new collar, with a pretty new blue bell.

Your Daily Lion Kitty

He has a funny haircut, but he still loves killing his carrot.

We wishl all of you a very happy and prosperous new year!!

New Year's Space Blogging!!

When I was a kid, I wanted to be an astronaut. Or more precisely, I wanted to fly off about the universe like the guys in the science fiction books I loved. I dreamed of walking on alien worlds, of flying through nebulas, of exploring distant star systems. Being an optimist at heart, I still hope I'll live long enough to escape our gravity well. In the meantime, I'll keep posting photographs of our astonishingly lovely universe.

I feel only pity for the silly people who are unable to appreciate the wonder and glory of creation, not as their sterile myths conjure, but the physical reality that is. God created the universe in six days? how perfectly boring. *Poof* you have a universe! Where's the fun in that? Why can't they appreciate the grandeur and sweep of time? The complexity and mystery of forces both quantum and large? The sheer elegance of the physical world?

Feh, a pox on all of them.

The image above comes from Space.com's Best Images of 2006. Enjoy.

Zombie Crab Nebula
A dead star lives on in the form of the Crab nebula 952 years after its explosive demise. The Crab nebula sits about 6,000 light-years from Earth towards the constellation Taurus [image]. One light-year is the distance light travels in one year, or about six trillion miles (10, trillion kilometers). This view of the nebula is actually the result of several space-based platforms, including the Chandra X-ray Observatory, Hubble Space Telescope and Spitzer Space Telescope.
X-ray: NASA/CXC/ASU/J.Hester et al.;
Optical: NASA/ESA/ASU/J.Hester & A.Loll; Infrared: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. Minn./R.Gehrz.

Happy New Year!!!

I think it's appropriate that we start off the new year with as much plushiness as possible.

This is Ira, one of Maxx's fellow plushy buddies. Ira lives with his very own plushy-slave Virgo Tex. He's like a giant, plushy creamsicle!!

New Years Eve Plushy

Poor lion kitty Maxx. They shaved off a good bit of his lovely ruff and managed to clip of some of his whiskers at the same time. Oh, the indignity!!

He's happy to be home though. Last night he didn't just sleep with me, he slept on me. Such a funny little guy.

Thank you!!

You guys have overwhelmed us with your generosity. I've taken down the paypal link for now, because Maxx's bill from Thursday is taken care of. He sees the new oncologist on Thursday and if he thinks Maxx can be helped, I'll consider putting it back up.

But for now, thank you so much. Maxx and I never knew we had so many friends. You have my undying gratitude.

Return of the Plush!!

Maxx and I are overwhelmed by everyone's generosity!! Many purrrrrs to all of you.

Donations

Sigh.

I hoped I'd never get to this day, but Maxx's overnight trip to the Emergency Room has finally prompted me to put up a PayPal link, especially after so many people asked me to.

Please don't feel obligated, but should you want to help defray some of lion kitty Maxx's vet bills, just click the secure link in the button in the side bar. (update, button in post removed because it wasn't working, sorry.)

Anyone who wants a snail mail address, please email me @ fourlegsrgood@yahoo.com. Thank you to everyone who has been so supportive during Maxx's illness. I can never thank you enough.

Woo hooo!!! Maxx is HOME!!!!!!!

I was out putting up flyers on each and every door when I found a woman who said, "Oh! I took him to the emergency clinic last night!"

Fuckers. I called them today and the receptionist said he wasn't there. The woman pre-paid $900.00 to take care of his expenses, which I promptly paid for. (It wasn't $900, but I don't know what the damage is.)

Maxx already wants to go outside. He's never going out AGAIN.

Whew. Thanks again for everyone's good thoughts. I'm just so relieved that he was somewhere safe.

PS. I'd post a pitcher, but it would probably scare everybody. :-)

4:35 Update

Still missing. I've put flyers up and notified as many people as I can to look out for him. I'm going down to the shelter where all strays and lost animals are taken. They couldn't tell me anything over the phone, they said I needed to come down and look for myself.

More later. Thanks for everyone's prayers.

Say a Prayer

Say a prayer that my sweet little Mr. Plushy will come home.

9:45 am Still Missing

The apartment people are putting up flyers and several people have their eye out for him. I'm starting to think something awful happened to him.

Missing

The furbag has gone awol. I haven't seen him since 6:00 pm, and I've searched the neighborhood. I'm so worried, he hasn't had his pain meds since 3:00.

Update: 1:25 am. Still missing. I'm praying that he's in someone's apartment, because I've looked everywhere. But he's hasn't had any of his meds. He needs his pain meds and his piroxicam. I want him to come home.

4:25 am, still not home. I should never have let him out of my sight. Never.

Thursday update

He seems to be feeling a little better today, though he did go our without eating any lunch. And he hasn't come back in yet. Bad kitty!!

We'll see how he does the rest of the day- if he's not eating well he's going back to the vet.

Update: He slipped at at 6:00 pm when I got back from picking up his pain med refill and he hasn't come back. I keep worrying that he's going to go out and not come back. It's so nerve wracking.

Signs of the Apocolypse

Both photos: Jeff Topping, Reuters. The dog's name is Booger, the cat is Kitty and the mice are both "mousie."

Good heavens.

Maxx is eating!!

Small victories.

Himself is snarfing down a nice dinner of Iams Turkey feast, washed down with some cold half and half. I bought him some chicken livers as well.

Update (2:30 am): Had himself a little snacky-snack of beef. I'm really glad he gained that 11 ounces, he can afford a day or two of not eating well.

After Christmas lion kitty

He's getting ready for New Years. I hope you all are off work and enjoying yourselves.

Christmas Eve kitty goodness

There's stuff on my cat!!

Have yourself a furry little christmas...

Maxx hopes you find many mousies under your tree.

Fuck you Brian Williams

Mr. Williams apparently doesn't care about kitties. He can kiss my centaur ass.

More christmas

AFP/Mehdi Fedouach

From Paris, my favorite city in the world:

Different view : An upside-down Christmas tree made out of lights hangs from one of the decks of the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

International Christmas

Reuters/Toby Melville

Everyone knows how I love beautiful photos. This one is from Reuters, near the Eye in London.

An installation of Christmas lights made of recycled plastic containers hangs near the London Eye wheel, in central London December 21, 2006. The commission by British artist David Batchelor will be on display along the South Bank of the River Thames throughout December.

Bonus christmas plush

By request.

His Noodly Appendage is everywhere

The things one can find on the intertubes.

Original webpage here: Flying Spaghetti Monster Hat, for those of you who wish to worship his noodliness by knitting your own chapeau.

Duncan has been sighted!!

Freaking blogger. Glad I didn't switch to beta.

Here's his temporary home:

eschaton08.blogspot

Where's Duncan??

Lion kitty Maxx sez that since you can't hang out and yak at Eschaton, you might as well help him solve the Unified Field Theory problem.

Physics are fun!

(to a cat, anyway)

Migrating my ass

Blogger has a message up.

"We're out of beta!!"

I suggest they go right back in, since they're obviously not ready for prime-time. Atrios' "migration" has turned into one of those all day affairs, something like those herds of bison from the 19th century that would take an entire day to pass a single point. I know he has a big blog, but this is ridiculous.

Not that I'm addicted to his comment section or anything.

No. Not me. I can get along fine.

I'm just twitching cause I'm itchy.

(sob)

Just give me a little, baby, just a little to get me through the night..... please baby, I'm beggin' ya.

(broken sobbing)

Christmas Plushy-Palooza!!

He still does cute better than any kitty I know.

His noodly appendage!!

My christmas gift from my minions.

I am most pleased.

Wooo hooo!!

What? who is that happy kitty in that photograph? why it's lion kitty Maxx, who had a very good checkup this morning.

He's gained 8 ounces (woo hooo!) and is feeling much better today. Plus we have other excellent news. One of the techs (who loves Maxx dearly, and who among us does not?) interviewed with an oncology practice in Santa Fe last week, and coincidentally, is in the middle of a clinical trial of a new, experimental protocol for oral lesions. Basically it's where they administer chemotherapy directly into the tumor, rather than systemically which is the common method (and has a zero success rate with oral squamous cell carcinomas).

I'm not sure if I can get him into the trial, but I understand they're pretty far down the road- they have results up to a year out, so there may be other oncologists in my state who are exploring this option.

The good news is that except for the carcinoma, he's in pretty good health. It hasn't metastisized or gone into his jaw bones, so if we can find a treatment, he'll be a good candidate. Whatever, it's the first spot of good news I've had yet.

I don't want to get too hopeful yet, but maybe we'll get a Christmas miracle after all. If this is a result of the crazy fundie lady praying for Maxx, I'll have to kiss her if I ever see her again.

Tuesday morning update

Lion kitty Maxx had a really good night last night, complete with lots of prowling and late night snacky-snacking. He's wondering why his carrier is out though.

Off to the vet for a checkup shortly, and to get a refill of his pain medication.

Monday update

I've had several people write to me or comment that Maxx looks pretty good. Well, the truth of the matter is that he doesn't look so great these days, I've been putting up old pictures of him, for two reasons. One, and it may sound silly, but I feel like I want to protect his privacy somewhat, and two, I don't want to upset people.

We has something of a tough weekend. On Saturday evening, I was sitting on the living room floor, wrapping xmas presents and watching a truly horrid zombie movie on Sci-fi channel, when I heard Maxx come in from his prowl. (jingle jingle jingle) He went into the kitchen, had a snack (more jingling), then he came into the living room. I looked up and there he was, dripping blood out of his mouth. He looked like he'd been in a zombie movie.

I'm pretty sure that he accidentally bit into his tumor and made himself bleed (the vet thinks so too), but it was a scary sight. Anyway, he's okay, but I've been a nervous wreck, worry about how much pain he's enduring.

He goes in tomorrow for a checkup. He's still eating well and still cuddly, but his prowls have been shorter. Poor little buddy.

Cloned kitty babies

AP/Larry Wadsworth

These little cuties were born in September to the world's first cloned cat. Photographed at Texas A&M on Wednesday, Dec. 13th.

Watertiger's pipple

AP/Vadim Ghirda

Oh my, this tiger looks like he'd like to eat someone. He lives in the zoo in Bucharest.

Friday lion kitty Maxx

Maxx seems to be feeling a little better this morning. He's back to sleeping in the closet (just right inside the door, not really hiding or anything), but he did come out this morning to have some breakfast and to hang out with me in the bathroom while I got ready for work.

When I left for work he was snoozing on his back, legs in the air, stoned.

Happy Hannukah

A very happy Hannukah to watertiger, Ex-senator Macaca and all our other jewish friends.

Lion kitty maxx

Last night was not so great for the plushter, but this morning he woke up and was grooming his glorious fur coat. He also had cleaned all three of his plates overnight. I'm hoping he'll be feeling better by the time I get home this evening.

Your daily Plush

Lion kitty Maxx is very cuddly these days. Must be the drugs. Little tramp.

Obama? Osama? just a little joke- joke

Josh at TalkingPointsMemo notes that Jeff Greenfield says that his little monologue about Obama's sartorial preferences being reminiscent of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was just a little joke and that we bloggers are just too sensitive!!

Sorry. I'm not buying it. I've been watching the Washington Press corps go off the deep end on nonsense for the past 8 years. At this point I know way more about what labels Nancy Pelosi wears than I'd like to.

When the press starts making the same comments about republicans, Jeff will be off the hook. Irony may be dad, fuckers, but the cocktail weinie eaters of the world need a serious attitude adjustment.

Mr. Plushy!!

Here he is in happier days, before he began to look like he has a permanent case of the mumps. He's still eating well - yesterday he polished off 4 packages of Whiskas and a can of Fancy Feast White Meat Chicken Florentine. Ooo la la!!

Foreign Service

I'll admit that I'm a cynic, but I see no good coming of this: Foreign Service Hiring Gets A Re-Exam

For generations, the United States has selected its diplomats through a two-stage test seen as a model of merit-based rigor. Pass hundreds of questions in a dozen subject areas and a day-long oral grilling by Foreign Service officers, and join the ranks. Fail, and find a different line of work.

No more. In a proposed overhaul of its hiring process slated for next year and to be announced to employees in coming days, the State Department would weigh resumes, references and intangibles such as "team-building skills" in choosing who represents the United States abroad, according to three people involved in the process. The written test would survive, but in a shortened form that would not be treated as the key first hurdle it has been for more than 70 years.

snip

The new approach would cut the hiring process roughly in half, to about six months, to better compete with companies that can offer promising candidates a job on the spot. The number of applicants is expected to decline, but to attract a greater range of experience and skills.

McKinsey acknowledged that the current hiring process is a proven predictor of candidate success. And for Foreign Service officers, the written test is a rite of passage, and source of pride. (my emphasis added)

"The sense that everybody passed this exam is important," said Richard C. Holbrooke, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations who brokered the Dayton peace accords, which ended the Bosnian war in 1995. Holbrooke entered the Foreign Service fresh out of Brown University, in 1962.

Holbrooke recalled that in addressing his Foreign Service class, then-Secretary of State Dean Rusk "made a big point of telling us that we had come in on our merit, and neither he nor anyone else could influence the process."

Set against that backdrop, "this looks like a lowering of the standards for entry . . . at a time when their focus ought to be on training diplomats for the real challenges of the 21st century," Holbrooke said.

The Foreign Service has always been the place where you actually did find the best and the brightest- the exam is a bitch, and has always been useful in weeding out the light weights.

But no more. My guess in that Condi and Karen Hughes took a look around the State Department and said, "Oh my!! there just aren't enough of our kind around here. What to do?" Gee, I guess making entrance more dependent on "resumes" and "experience" and "team building skills" will make it easier for wingnuts and other assorted idiots to apply. Trust the bushies to take something that works and break it.

Just one more way the Bush administration is fucking up the country. This issue doesn't get much attention, but the damage that Bush and Co. have done to the professional government services will cause damage we'll be paying for for a generation.

Feh.

Meanwhile, back in hell

AP/Karim Kadim

While our talking heads natter on, Iraq continues to be hell on earth for Iraq's citizens. Truck Bombing Kills at Least 56 in Baghdad

BAGHDAD, Dec. 12 — At least 56 people, most of them Shiite laborers looking for work, were killed today when a pickup truck packed with explosives was detonated in a crowded square in the city’s center this morning, Iraqi officials and witnesses said. At least 220 more were wounded.

Also today, a bomb was discovered at the Golden Shrine in Samarra, a holy site for Shiites, the American military reported. A large bomb that was detonated there in February by Al Qaeda severely damaged the shrine and set off waves of sectarian killings and reprisals across the country.

The bomb found today by the Iraqi police went off while it was being removed, causing minor damage to a doorway but no injuries, the military said.

snip

In recent weeks, American military officials have described the battle for control of Baghdad as a steady stream of individual killings of Sunnis carried out by Shiite death squads, punctuated by bombings and larger attacks carried out by Sunni insurgents or Al Qaeda members against Shiites.

Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, a Shiite, denounced the blast as the work of Sunni extremists and “their Saddamist allies.” The speaker of the Iraqi Parliament, Mahmud Mashhadani, a Sunni, also condemned the attack, and called on all armed groups within the country to observe a two-month truce.

snip

The acting director of the hospital, Dr. Flayeh Hassan, said that 53 survivors and 43 dead bodies had been brought to the emergency room there, an influx that presented a challenge to an already struggling institution.

“We suffer a lot because of lack of medical appliances as well as medicine,” Dr. Hassan said. “We suffer from lack of sufficient number of staff to take care of the cases admitted every day. Most of them have left the country.

“We didn’t get our salaries yet, and also the amount which we are supposed to receive from the ministry to enable us to buy supplies from the local market, such as beds and other necessities, hasn’t been received yet.”

Also today, the A.P. announced that one of its cameramen, Aswan Ahmed Luftallah, was shot by insurgents while covering clashes in the northern city of Mosul. He is the third employee of the news agency to be killed in Iraq.

A tally kept by the Committee to Protect Journalists shows that 89 journalists and 37 media support workers had been killed in Iraq since the 2003 invasion, prior to Mr. Luftallah’s death, the news agency said.

I don't know what needs to happen there. We seem powerless to stop the violence and either unable, or unwilling to protect the populace. In truth, this invasion has completely wrecked the country, and there are no good options for fixing the situation. Iraqis are fleeing the country at the rate of 1,000 per day, an astonishing number. Those too poor or unable to leave are dying at a rate of 3,000 per month. That we know of. The death rate could be double that for all we know.

It doesn't help that the administration is more worried about covering their asses than they are about fixing things. At this point I think the only question left is, do you want your bloodbath now? or later?

Monday plushy

This photo is an old one- but Maxx is fine- he had a better day today. I have a cold again, though I'm sure I'll live.

Space, bitch!!

The Pismis 24 star cluster sits within the emission nebula NGC 6357 seen here in an image taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. Credit: NASA/ESA/Jesús Maíz Apellániz/Instituto de astrofísica de Andalucía, Spain.

Simply gorgeous. Looking at images from Hubble always lifts my spirits.

Damn you Eli!!

Eli tagged me with a book meme. Bastard.

1. Grab the book closest to you.
2. Open to page 123, go down to the fifth sentence.
3. Post the text of next 3 sentences on your blog.
4. Name of the book and the author.
5. Tag three people.

So here we go:

For lack of anything else to grip, Fiddler snagged the gelding's ears and pulled hard, backing the beast away even as it prepard to stomp on the guard's huddled form. Hiding his shock behind an even fiercer frown, the sapper unleashed a stream of Gral curses at the two remaining men, who had both backed frantically clear before lowering their pikes. "Foul snot of rabid dogs! anal crust of dysenteried goats!"

I'll have to think of some folks to tag in the morning, since I have a terrible headache.

Update: Eli points out that I'm supposed to name the book: Deadhouse Gates, Steven Erikson, 2000 (american edition 2005).

I tag Hecate, Watertiger, and Phila at Bouphonia.

Ethnic Cleansing

Silly me, but I thought this was the sort of thing we were in Iraq to prevent? Shiites Rout Sunni Families in Mixed Area of Baghdad

BAGHDAD, Dec. 9 — Bands of armed Shiite militiamen stormed through a neighborhood in north-central Baghdad on Saturday, driving hundreds of Sunni Arabs from their homes in what a Sunni colonel in the Iraqi Army described as one of the most flagrant episodes of sectarian warfare yet unleashed in the capital.

The officer, Lt. Col. Abdullah Ramadan al-Jabouri, said that more than 100 Sunni families, many with very young children, had left the Hurriya neighborhood aboard a convoy of trucks and cars under cover of the nightly curfew. Government officials tried to urge the families to return by promising army protection, but could not persuade them.

snip

The role of American troops in the turmoil was unclear. The Sunni cleric, Sayed Muhammad, said appeals for assistance from the First Cavalry Division, its headquarters about three miles southwest of Hurriya, had gone unanswered. But Colonel Jabouri said Iraqi commanders had told the Americans there was no need for their help. A First Cavalry Division spokesman said American advisers with Iraqi troops in Hurriya had reported only one instance of sectarian trouble, when Iraqi troops assisted a Shiite family under threat from Sunnis.(My emphasis added.)

I'm not sure what's going on here- are we ignoring the violence that's happening? Are Iraqi commanders on the ground asking for help but the Shiite commanders from the top not passing the appeals on?

Whatever the answer is, we're not stopping anything. Everyday car bombs go off, more soldiers and civilians die, and our wise men natter on about the politics of the whole thing. It's appalling.