Even more Maddie

After play comes naptime.

Update: As always, click on the photos to see all the eeeeeep!! worthy details magnified.

More Maddie!!

I promised Maddie palooza and I'm delivering. Not don't get spoiled or anything.

Also, do click on all of these photos, the files sizes are quite large and you'll be able to see every itty bitty hair on her chinny-chin-chin. How delightful!!

Clouds

I happened to glance out the window today to see this odd cloud formation. No, it's not two big contrails, it's actually two clouds that happened to criss-cross each other.

Though I did look around to see if an X-man was flying by.

Or maybe it was god, x-ing out Scooter Libby's future prospects.

More Maddie

There's something I like to see- those healthy pink gums. And the curled up back bugs bunny toesies are pretty hilarious too.

Celebratory Kitten

She's starting to look slightly less surprised. They become jaded so quickly.

The feeties, the tummy, the teddy bears, oh my.

We shall have Maddie palooza all day long to celebrate Fitzmas.

Fitzmas at Last

Scooter guilty on 4 of 5 counts. Libby Found Guilty in CIA Leak Case. Cue a million wingnut trolls wailing about "miscarriage of justice." After all, what's the world coming to when a SAO can't obstruct justice in peace?

I'm sure I shouldn't be cheering that a man is looking at 30 years in prison, but it's about time that someone in the administration was held accountable for something. I only wish they'd have charged him with misuse of office as well.

Kudos to Firedoglake for their excellent trial coverage. Don't click on the link, give their servers a chance to catch up.

More kitten pRon

A kitten and her peeps.

Monday Maddie

She's learning to be a plush queen already.

Lunar Eclipse

Sigh. We didn't get to see it here- clouds came up in the east right at sundown, obscuring the moonrise. This gorgeous photo was taken by Jorgen Blom over Stockholm, Sweden.

Sunday Evening kitty

I've had a request for sleepy Maddie photos.

She's getting quite fluffy isn't she?

Someone else's kitty

This is long-time reader Elspeth's kitty Amelie. We loves us some black and white kitties.

Sunday kitty

You guys are awfully demanding. A centaur has gotta rest sometime.

Saturday kitten

I love her funny side fluffy things- you can kind of see them in this photo. Eventually they'll blend into her ruff when it grows in. Right not they just look hilarious.

Late afternoon kitten

Quoi??

I think she's practicing being a lionesse kitty. Her ruff is coming in nicely.

Saturn, bitch!!

AP Photo/NASA

I loves me some ringed planets. Photo taken by the Cassini spacecraft on February 4th. Lovely.

Too little, too late

Chimpy has ordered a "comprehensive review" of the veterans hospitals, prodded by Dana Priest's excellent reporting on the deplorable conditions for outpatients at Walter Reed. Bush Orders Review of veteran's hospitals:

WASHINGTON - President Bush ordered a comprehensive review Friday of conditions at the nation's military and veteran hospitals in the wake of a scandal surrounding care for wounded troops at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington.

The White House said the president would name a bipartisan commission to assess whether the problems at Walter Reed existed at other facilities.

The action came after The Washington Post documented squalid living conditions for some outpatient soldiers at Walter Reed and bureaucratic problems that prevented many troops from getting adequate care.

No doubt they'll be trying to figure out how reporters managed to talk to the soldiers and how to prevent this sort of PR nightmare in the future.

Feh. Without the stories in the Washington Post, nothing would have changed there. Remember, republican members of congress knew about this years ago. And they did nothing. Heck of a job, army!!

Memorial Friday Plush

I think every friday is a good day to remember lion kitty Maxx.

Now that I have Maddie, Maxx looks so grownup and masculine in comparison.

Okay, that's weird- when I posted the post, it really struck me how similar Maxx and Maddie's facial markings are. Even around the eyes.

Cue "Twilight Zone" music.

Morning friday kitten

Pretty Maddie. When she's sitting still, anyways.

Now can we talk about it?

Universal health care coverage has long been considered one of the third rails of American politics and even mentioning it in public has been extremely controversial. But the NY Times has some new reporting out this morning: Most Support U.S. Guarantee of Health Care.:

A majority of Americans say the federal government should guarantee health insurance to every American, especially children, and are willing to pay higher taxes to do it, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll.

While the war in Iraq remains the overarching issue in the early stages of the 2008 campaign, access to affordable health care is at the top of the public’s domestic agenda, ranked far more important than immigration, cutting taxes or promoting traditional values.

Only 24 percent said they were satisfied with President Bush’s handling of the health insurance issue, despite his recent initiatives, and 62 percent said the Democrats were more likely to improve the health care system.

That's pretty unambiguous. And so far, only one democratic candidate has come out and called for the entire enchilada, universal health care. That's Barack Obama.

The rest of the party needs to come on board. The republicans WILL. NOT. They will protect the profits of the health conglomerates, pharmaceutical companies, and insurance companies to the bitter end. And if you think the health care industry is going to do this without someone's boot up their ass, well, think again. Exhibit A: have any of you seen those smarmy ads that say the new medicare drug plan is "working for seniors! don't change it!"?? That's nothing more than a blatent ploy to turn the public against what's surely coming - reform of that clusterfuck of a plan by the new democratic congress.

It's up to us to do something. Not only is it good politics for our side, it's the right and moral thing to do. It's a travesty that in the richest country in the world, people still die needlessly because they cannot get adequate treatment.

It's time to have an honest debate about how to get this done. And it's time for politicians on both sides to quit being political and do the right thing.

Last Maddie of the day

"Que? They actually pay Friedman to write that crap?"

I am sorry, kitty, but it is true.

Poor sad feather on a stick

This is all that's left. She has completely plucked it.

Hasn't stopped her from playing with it though. She still carries it all over the house.

Hallooooooo!!

Chiken paté is delicious!! She has a really, really pink tongue.

The Moon!!! the Moon!!!

There will be a lunar eclipse this Saturday, March 3rd, a total one! Most excellent. From spaceweather.com:

Set aside some time this weekend for sky watching. On Saturday night, March 3rd, there's going to be a total lunar eclipse. What will it look like? Doug Murray of Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, took this picture during a similar eclipse in 2004: (pic posted above)

This weekend's eclipse will be visible from parts of all seven continents: map. Europe and Africa are favored. People there will see Earth's red shadow swallow the Moon for more than an hour around 23:21 GMT: animation.

Here in the United States, you have to be in the eastern half of the country to witness totality. At the end of the day on Saturday, go outside and face east. As the sun sets behind your back, a red Moon will rise before your eyes--fantastic! Maximum eclipse is at 6:21 p.m. EST.

Snout

She takes her fur coat very seriously.

Mid Day Maddie

Toys, toys and more toys.

Hey, I hear I'm getting something from Targét? Kewl!!!

Electric Kitten

I stole this kitten from cute overload. He looks like he's going supernova.

In other news, the fools over at DailyKitten.com refuse to recognize Maddie's hypercutosity.

Bastards!!

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?"