Addition to My Summer Reading List

This book should be extremely interesting.

Former press secretary's book bashes Bush

From Associated Press

May 28, 2008 8:26 AM EDT

WASHINGTON - Former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan writes in a new memoir that President Bush relied on an aggressive "political propaganda campaign" instead of the truth to sell the Iraq war, it has been reported.

The Bush White House made "a decision to turn away from candor and honesty when those qualities were most needed" - a time when the nation was on the brink of war, McClellan writes in the book entitled "What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception."

The way Bush managed the Iraq issue "almost guaranteed that the use of force would become the only feasible option," the book contends, according to accounts Wednesday in The New York Times and Washington Post.

"In the permanent campaign era, it was all about manipulating sources of public opinion to the president's advantage," McClellan writes.

The White House had no immediate comment on the book.

In a surprisingly harsh assessment from the man who was at that time the loyal public voice of the White House, McClellan called the Iraq war a "serious strategic blunder."

"The Iraq war was not necessary," he concludes.

McClellan admits that some of his own words from the podium in the White House briefing room turned out to be "badly misguided." But he says he was sincere at the time.

"I fell far short of living up to the kind of public servant I wanted to be," McClellan writes. He also blames the media whose questions he fielded, calling them "complicit enablers" in the White House campaign to manipulate public opinion toward the need for war.

The book is scheduled to go on sale June 1. Quotes from the book were reported Tuesday night by the Web site Politico, which said it found McClellan's memoir on sale early at a bookstore.

McClellan draws a portrait of his former boss as smart, charming and politically skilled, but unwilling to admit mistakes and susceptible to his own spin. Bush "convinces himself to believe what suits his needs at the moment," McClellan writes.

He also faults Bush for a "lack of inquisitiveness."

Adventures in Cat Ownership: The First Trip to the Veterinarian

Ginger had her first visit to the "V-E-T" tonight! She did very well. Didn't fight me when I put her in her carrier, but yapped at me the entire drive there.

We got there and they had me put her (inside her carrier) on the waiting room scale, and she and the carrier weighed something like 13 pounds. When we got into the office, we tried to coax her out with a treat, but she wasn't too interested. It took her about 15 seconds to come out, and then she hopped off the table and started to explore the room. We finally got her back up on the table and the vet looked her over while the assistant gently held her in place. She squirmed for the rabies shot, but not too badly.

All in all, my little Ginger is very healthy, and the assistant commented a couple times on how sweet she is. The vet said I should cut down on her food a little more (from 1/3 c. to 1/4 c. a day) to help get her weight down (without being in the carrier she weighed in at 9.8 pounds, which is slightly larger than he'd like to see her, but nothing to worry about. He also suggested I bring her in to get her teeth cleaned once a year, but otherwise she doesn't need any of the vaccinations that outdoor cats get, so that's good.

Then I put her back in her carrier, went out to pay for the shot (only $28 -- the exam was free thanks to the WI Humane Society, as part of adopting your pet), and saw on the counter a picture of a cute little cat, whose name I think was Stuart. The poor little guy has only three legs (he was being abused) and had tested positive for feline leukemia, so he could only go to a one-cat home (or a home with another cat who tested positive). They were asking me if I wanted to take him and I said I couldn't because Ginger is negative. Some of this can be attributed to PMS, I think, but not all ... I was almost in tears reading about this little cat. He had such a sweet little face, and while I never understood animal abuse before, now that I have a pet of my own, I can't even fathom hurting her like that, or imagining someone else hurting her. Maybe animal abusers are similar to child abusers -- weak cowards who only prey on things smaller than them and defenseless. When I got to the car, I did cry, it was just so sad. I get like that sometimes, it's a weird quirk about me -- I over-identify with a complete stranger or strange situation, and get way to emotional about it. I guess I'd rather cry at the drop of a hat about something like that than not care at all. :)

I was going to take pictures of her during her vet appointment, but I figured the vet (who was kind of cute) would think that was weird. So I waited until we got home to photograph the "aftermath" of the vet trip.


Ginger replenishing her fluids after the vet trip


Because I am now a "new mom" pet owner, here are some more photos I took of her over the weekend.



I'm on ur bed, stealin ur coverz



Being lazy on the couch


The menacing huntress watching for birds

New Addition

Last night I welcomed a new addition to my family.

Meet...Ginger Snap!

I adopted her from the Wisconsin Humane Society last night. Her original name was Yolanda -- don't think so. Ginger Snap it is!

My friend R went with me. The whole process took about two hours. I originally found her online, and when we got there I couldn't find her at all, so I was worried that she had already been adopted. Turns out she has a bit of a cold, so those animals are kept separately from the healthy ones.

The adoption coordinator brought her into one of the vet exam rooms in a carrier, and she climbed right out of it and started "marking" R and I, along with everything else in the room. R and I both looked at each other and said, "This is the one!" So they got her ready to go, and sent me home with my "cat starter kit" (litter box, litter, scoop, food, food bowls, toy, brush and lint catcher) and her antibiotics and we were off for home.

She yammered at me the entire 5 minute car ride, it was pretty funny. R prepared me for her probably being freaked out, and said she probably would hide under my bed for a day or so. I put the carrier in the living room and opened it up to let her out. She immediately started exploring the house. We put her litter box together and R suggested I carry her to the litter box and put her inside it so she knows where it is (R has a cat, he's not just a cat genius, lol). She has discovered the top of the sofa, where she can look out the window at the cars going by. When I was uploading the pictures of her last night she was on my bed, head-butting me and being generally affectionate. Last night she slept in bed with me the majority of the night, her little paw and head on my hand. So cute!

So now I am officially a cat lady! Guess that seals my role as a spinster, lol.

It's About Time!

California Supreme Court Overturns Gay Marriage Ban

It's about time.

While I'm not gay and would benefit in no way from this announcement (particularly because I live in Wisconsin, where the real happy cows are!), I welcome the news nonetheless. No one bats an eye when someone like Britney Spears or Pamela Anderson enter into ill-advised marriages that last hours or even a few months, but when a loving, committed same-sex couple wants to get married, stop the presses! Does God favor a straight person who enters into marriage frivolously over a homosexual whose marriage could potentially last 10 times as long? I would like to think the God I believe in doesn't discriminate this ridiculously.

I wish I were optimistic that this decision by the California Supreme Court would stand, but I am not holding out much hope. Unfortunately it seems those who are against same-sex marriage are far more well-funded and connected than those of us who believe that every person has a right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, whether that happiness entails marrying a man or a woman. I don't recall that phrase in the Declaration of Independence including a codicil about the pursuit of happiness only being limited to heterosexuals. Or that "the pursuit of happiness" means more for heterosexuals than for gays.

Another argument that amuses me is the whole "marriage is a religious sacrament" garbage. Don't people who go to the courthouse to get married call it "getting married?" If Catholics don't want gays to marry in the church, fine. A marriage in a courthouse is presided over by a judge, not a priest, so does that make the marriage any less recognized in anyone's eyes? Maybe they should call church weddings "marriages," and non-denominational weddings "civil unions," and just take religion completely out of the equation. Because any marriage, no matter where performed, isn't legal until the couple obtains a marriage license, which is provided by the government.

See where I'm going with this?

Unfortunately, until this country achieves the true separation of church and state that our founding fathers envisioned and built this country on, bigotry like anti-gay marriage amendments will continue to erode society and keep good people from being able to legally declare their love for another person. I hope I live to see the day that this finally happens.