Whatta maroon!!

Oy, the dumbest motherfucker on the face of the earth has launched his own website to defend his tattered reputation. DougFeith.com. Excuse me while I find my hankey, because I can't stop laughing. Comedy gold! comes complete with a testimonial quote.

Well, I have a suggestion for Mr. Feith- if you want to be taken seriously, you can start by NOT posting a photo that makes you look like the village idiot.

Via Talking Points Memo.

Daily Maddie

I've been spoiling you guys with so many Madeleine photos. It's wearing me out, chasing her with the camera.

Nebula!!

Credit: Russell Croman Astrophotography

Explanation: When stars form, pandemonium reigns. A textbook case is the star forming region NGC 2170. Visible above are red glowing emission nebulas of hydrogen, blue reflection nebulas of dust, dark absorption nebulas of dust, and the stars that formed from them. The first massive stars formed from the dense gas will emit energetic light and winds that erode, fragment, and sculpt their birthplace. And then they explode. The resulting morass is often as beautiful as it is complex. After tens of millions of years, the dust boils away, the gas gets swept away, and all that is left is a naked open cluster of stars.

Gorgeous. Hat tip to Plum P.

Black Sites

The Washington Post has a harrowing story up this morning with an interview of Marwan Jabour, an alleged Al-queda paymaster who spent 2 years "disappeared" inside the CIA's network of illegal black sites.

On his last day in CIA custody, Marwan Jabour, an accused al-Qaeda paymaster, was stripped naked, seated in a chair and videotaped by agency officers. Afterward, he was shackled and blindfolded, headphones were put over his ears, and he was given an injection that made him groggy. Jabour, 30, was laid down in the back of a van, driven to an airstrip and put on a plane with at least one other prisoner.

snip

After 28 months of incarceration, Jabour -- who was described by a counterterrorism official in the U.S. government as "a committed jihadist and a hard-core terrorist who was intent on doing harm to innocent people, including Americans" -- was released eight months ago. U.S. intelligence and counterterrorism officials confirmed his incarceration and that he was held in Pakistan and Afghanistan. They would not discuss conditions inside black sites or the treatment of any detainee.

snip

Jabour spent five weeks there, chained to a wall and prevented from sleeping more than a few hours at a time. He said he was beaten nightly by Pakistani guards after hours of questions from U.S. interrogators. Then he and others were whisked off to CIA-run sites. Some sites were in Eastern Europe; Jabour went to one in Afghanistan. Interrogators -- whom he described as Americans in their late 20s and early 30s -- told Jabour he would never see his three children again.

Human Rights Watch has identified 38 people who may have been held by the CIA and remain unaccounted for. Intelligence officials told The Post that the number of detainees held in such facilities over nearly five years remains classified but is higher than 60. Their whereabouts have not been publicly disclosed.

Right. He couldn't have been that dangerous, or else they wouldn't have released him. How many other people are still lost in that nightmare? I have no doubt that America has enemies, after all, we've been busily creating them the last 5 years, but behaving like a fascist South American dictatorship is not the answer. Some days I am completely ashamed of my country.

Article is here: New LIght Shed on CIA's "Black Site" Prisions

More kitten palooza

What's on teevee? She finds the television periodically interesting.

She's stalking the camera. The shot is a little blurry because I started giggling again.

George asked for a torso shot, to see more of her markings. Here she's making off with one of her favorite toys, the dreaded pull ring from a milk jug. You never know when one of those dastardly things might be possessed by an alien.

Late Afternoon kitty

Her feather on a stick is getting woefully bare. She's plucked just about all of the feathers off the poor thing. I bought her two new ones, but she doesn't like them as much.

So today I made a side trip to get some replacements, and EEEEEEEK!!! they were out. She's going to have to make do with her 8,013 other toys until the weekend.

AAAAMMMMOOOOONNNNNNNN!!!!

AP/Rob O'Neal

Now we know what the giant wicker man eats.

(Your obscure Sci-Fi reference for the day. Watertiger and Eli will get it.)

Tuesday kitty

Yes, Maddie is getting bigger, and growing quickly, but she's still just a little thing. She barely weighs over a pound.

Radioactive kitten

Quit growing so fast!!!

Monday Maddie

About to pounce on the dreaded feather monster.

Just for the hell of it

I like the other feather photo better, but this one is cute too.

Oscar Night Maddie

"Why the hell are you watching that stupid show?"

"Wouldn't you rather play?"

Halloooo!!!

She loves her some feathers on a stick.

Last late night photo

For the late night folks.

Obama in the river city

Larry Kolvoord/Austin American Statesman

I hear Tucker Carlson says that Obama is finished. And here's your photographic proof.

Tucker is a moron.

Your daily Eeeeeeep!!

I love her delightful white fichu. She's trying to capture her uncle's sense of majesty there... but just manages to be cute instead.

Attack of the eyebrows!

The fetching was not a fluke, by the way. Last night we played for an hour, and she brought me things over and over to toss for her, purring all the while. She also started bringing me her toys as well, including dragging her feather on a stick up on my bed and depositing it on my head.

Current Baby Plush

Little scamp, jumping on my head every morning.

Memorial plush

Because he's in my thoughts everyday.

More kittenz

Posted without comment. What more is there to say except, "Eeeeeeeeep!"

Plumy tail

I noticed last night that her tail is already becoming quite long and plumy. Mr. Plushy would be so proud.