Sherry Chandler

So Rush thinks that cats and women are useless objects only good for patronization. He’d better pet and play with that cat of his before his senility advances so far he that is gibbering.

It may already be too late.

I read an article last week which advised the owners of older cats to play with them and keep them amused with [for example] fishing-rod type toys in order to prevent Altzimer’s disease. It helps both the cat and the owner to avoid galloping dementia, if I recall correctly.

The article also said that petting a cat tended to lower owners’ blood pressure. So even Rush’s pampered pet may providing him with immeasurable benefits, depending upon how much attention he pays her.
Unfortunately I can’t find the article right now since I have a lap full of Peanut and he expresses his interest in the world at the moment by chasing any hand on the mouse.

As part of its ongoing war on freedom of information and denial of environmental issues, the Bushies are set to dismantle the nation’s system of Environmental Protection Agency libaries. From Leslie Burger, President of the American Library Association, in the NYTimes:

IF you needed to find out how much pollution an industrial plant in your neighborhood was spewing, or what toxic chemicals were in a local river, where would you go? Until recently, you could discover the answer at one of the Environmental Protection Agency’s 29 libraries. But now the E.P.A. has obstructed the American public — as well as its own scientists and staff — by starting to dismantle its crown jewel, the national system of regional E.P.A. libraries.

Until now, any citizen could consult these resources, which include information on things like siting incinerators, storing toxic waste and uncovering links between asthma and car exhaust. E.P.A. staff members and other scientists have counted on the libraries to support their work. First responders and other state and local government officials have used E.P.A. information to protect communities. In the age of terrorism, when the safety of our food and water supply, the uninterrupted flow of energy and, indeed, so much about our environment has become a matter of national security, it seems particularly dangerous to take steps that would hinder our emergency preparedness.

Although lawmakers haven’t yet agreed to President Bush’s proposed 2007 budget, which includes $2 million in cuts to the agency’s library system, the head of the E.P.A. has already instituted cuts. The agency’s main library in Washington has been closed to the public, and regional E.P.A. libraries in Chicago, Dallas and Kansas City, Mo., have been closed altogether. At the Boston, New York, San Francisco and Seattle branches, hours and public access have been reduced.

Read the rest and write your Congressman. It might do some good now, especially since the Republicans have refused to pass a budget for this year, preferring to leave that as a stumbling block for the incoming Democratic Congress.

A man named Brian Jones has made a tourist attraction of the Cleveland house from “A Christmas Story:”

A San Diego entrepreneur, Brian Jones, bought the house sight unseen on e-Bay for $150,000 in December 2004. He grew up watching “A Christmas Story” every year with his family. After Mr. Jones failed the vision test required to become a Navy pilot, his father tried cheering him up by building him a lamp with a woman’s leg as the base, similar to the one that enchanted Ralphie’s father in the movie.

Mr. Jones loved the gift so much that he started manufacturing copies of the lamps himself. Complete with fishnet stocking and a black high-heeled shoe, most lamps sell for $139 each; more than 7,500 have sold. Mr. Jones used the proceeds to cover the down payment on the house.

Having bought it, he “restored” it to look like the movie set, and turned it into a museum and gift shop where you can buy hunks of the original wood siding for $60 — speaking of holy relics and a buy nothing Christmas.

Jeff Hess, have you been there yet?