The Whole Kitten Kaboodle

Friday, December 19, 2008

301 Redirects

OK, I had fun with 301 redirects. Learned some CSS. But for now I'm just going to give you all the new website address:

http://twkk.wordpress.com

Click on it to go to my new digs!

Coolness!

Luv,
Skittles, The Huntress

Tuesday, December 09, 2008

Going, going, going.....to

Wordpress.com. I am currently migrating over to Wordpress, which is why I haven't posted much recently. I'm going to have a new, spiffy website! Yeah for me! Plus my pet human gets her own stuff back.

Here's one of my pet human's favorite photos from the archives.

and here is one from her photos archive. Which direction should I go?

I'm expecting the unveiling of my new site around Christmas Day. Happy holidays to all!

Luv and Peace,
Skittles, The Huntress

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Thanksgiving Day Thursday Thirteen

A heartfelt happy Thanksgiving to all.
I think it's really neat that Thanksgiving falls on a Thursday. I can give my thanks as a Thursday Thirteen.

What Am I Thankful For?

1. My pet human

2. My special mancat, SlyCat, of Evanston, Illinois. He's very special!

3. I get to go outdoors. There are no predators around here to worry about (HA!!! except for me!)

4. Temptations!

5. Catnip

6. My new authentic DKM Snuggle

7. My teddy dog (my pet human wants me to leave that out. FAT CHANCE!!!)

8. I must admit, I'm also thankful for Sam, The Marmalade Cat. I can't help myself for bopping him on the nose or growling at him. But he is a pretty nice gentleman.

9. Bob and Julie.

10. Living in Point Loma

11. My garden

12. My unpaid political advisors, Ginny and Bill

13. For all of my kitty friends on the blogosphere. You are one fantastic bunch of friends!

From WW: I posted this two years ago for Thanksgiving. It holds true today:

I recall a time during my childhood when each family member would say what he/she was thankful for before saying the Thanksgiving Dinner blessing.

In retrospect I think the adults did this for the benefit of the children. Yet, this year it seems appropriate for me to list what I am thankful for, just as a child might do, but with one eye fixed on the great feast laid out in front of her. The road I have travelled upon the last 6 to 7 years, and especially the last 5 years, has been one with many roadblocks, U-turns, and detours. Yet, I have much to be thankful for. So here goes:

I am thankful for:

The expanse of the azure sky
The sparkling oasis in the desert
The warm sun and the cool moon
And the pounding surf at the Cove

For:

My friends, loyal and true.
Glistening shards of wisdom,
Slicing through my soul.
The kindness of doctors.
Hiking partners, old and new.

For:

The antics of a particular tabby,
Cantering with my palomino

For:

A cup of ramen noodles

For:

The gift of a silent voice.
Silence
Stillness
Clarity and insight hard won.

All these things and more.

Happy Thanksgiving to all.

Saturday, November 22, 2008

SNUGGLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My first ever DKM snuggle arrived recently. Oh, my!!! I think I understand all the hoopla now.

It's a lovely hunter green with the color of fall leaves interwoven. But that's not the best part.

There was catnip inside, and the snuggle smells like buns! Wahhhhooooooooooooo! I even got a bottle of Eau de Fiona. I almost fainted when I took a whiff of that potent perfume.

I hereby give the Skittles Goodhousekeeping Seal of Approval to the DKM Snuggle. I highly recommend the product to any cat thinking of purchasing one.

Hurry to your phones. Supplies are limited and you won't want to miss out. The holidays are coming, and you know your secret paws recipient will just love this. DKM is offering special holiday editions of these unique gifts. Go the DKM and The Fluffies for information on how to purchase this important accessory for your collection or for your favorite kitty.

Luv,
Skittles, The Huntress

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Rooomba Cat

This is way cute!

Monday, November 17, 2008

Yoga Tuesday

Welcome to Yoga Tuesday! It's been a while since I led a yoga class for everyone. I was so busy with my campaign! And of course I'm now planning to head to the White House. 12 votes in my poll, and 8 were for me!!!! I beat Obama! My pet human just shakes her head and says something about electoral votes.

Anyway, let's make this a special relaxing and rejuvenating class. Let's start with incense for a pleasing soothing atmosphere.

I've lit candles all around for a golden glow.

Now, everyone close your eyes, breathe in slowly. Feel the feline harmonic waves come through cyberspace. We are all one with the world, we are at peace with ourselves and others. Oooooooohhhhhhhhmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!

My! I feel a million times better. Excellent class everyone.

And of course my favorite part of yoga class is the party afterwards. Please join me at the buffet and help yourselves to some refreshments.

Ham for Miles!!!!!

Some champagne perhaps? I'm serving Schramsberg.

Or perhaps you would like to start with a light seafood cocktail with lobster and crab?

Grilled salmon with hoison glaze and plum ginger relish

And roast lamb with marion berry and pecan crust

Thank you all for joining me. I'll try to hold class more regularly now. I can't wait to have all the visiting heads of state follow along with my yoga class. Do you think Putin does yoga? He will with me!

Luv,
Skittles

Friday, November 14, 2008

SSSNNNNNNNNZZZZZZZZZZzXXXXXXXxxxSssXXXXXXX!

Yawn. I'm planning a special yoga class this coming Tuesday, Nov. 18. Please join me for some relaxation and meditation.

Luv,
Skittles, The Huntress

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Scenes From The Sierras

That lovely, stunning, sleek tabby named Skittles will be back next week.

Sunday, November 09, 2008

The Illogicality of Christianity

the following was written by The Lutheran Surrealist.(Oct. 14 2008) It is republished here with his permission.

THE ILLOGICALITY OF CHRISTIANITY

I am often reminded by non-Christians that Christianity isn't scientific, can't be proven, doesn't speak in logical terms.

It's not just Max. It's everywhere I go, I run into this THING called logic. It's supposed to be an insuperable argument, and on its own terms, it is.

That is, if you are going to believe only in what's logical, then it's only logical that you can't be a Christian.

Again -- it's not just Max. It's Christopher Hitchens, it's Richard Dawkins, it's the culture, stupid.

The problem is that Christianity IS stupid. That is, it was never an extension of Greek logic emerging from Aristotle. It was never even an extension of Jewish wisdom extending out of the OT. It's something else.

Jesus said, "I will bring to nothing the wisdom of the wise, and destroy the cleverness of the clever."

What did He mean by this?

He was ushering in the realm of the surreal. Jesus was the world's first surrealist. He ushered in a realm of the marvelous that was beyond understanding.

If we are not powerful, and haven't got a lot of property, it makes sense that we should not ride into Jerusalem on the back of an ass, and upset all the applecarts of the city, and presume to upbraid our elders.

If we are the son of God, it makes sense that we would end up running the world, rather than being nailed to a cross to die in utter devastation.

I'm reading a book by Alain Badiou, called St. Paul. (Stanford: SUP, 2003). Badiou is a Marxist who is trying to use St. Paul to discuss the notion of "universalism." He admires St. Paul but wants to hijack the logic of St. Paul to use it as a intervention in Marxist discourse (I'm not yet done with this wonderful book so I don't know precisely where he's going).

Paul, Badiou writes, was stuck between Jewish wisdom, which consisted of signs, and Greek logic, which consisted of logical discourse.

"The philosopher knows eternal truths; the prophet knows the univocal sense of what will come (even if he delivers it only through figures, through signs). The apostle, who declares an unheard-of possibility, one dependent on an evental grace, properly speaking knows nothing" (45).

Paul's "knowledge" consists of having been blinded by grace on the road to Damascus. (Evental, in this translated text, stems from the word "eventiellement," in the French original, which means of or having to do with an event.) A single event, rather than being caught up in logic, or having looked to the future for a sign, is what determines Paul's scandalous news that he seeks to spread throughout the Roman empire.

Everywhere he is met with Greek and Jewish resistance. His only weapon is a kind of outlandish love, an eternal love that he brings into the finitude of Greek logic in order to cause it to explode, and into the communal savvy of the Jewish upper crust of Jerusalem (about to be dispersed only ten years later when they finally provoke Roman fury to its limits with their riots in the years around 60 AD, just a few years after Paul's head is lopped off and bounces thrice to herald the Trinity).

Paul declares a new kind of truth that has nothing to do with science. It is not concerned with the niceties of logic or the proof theories of science. It has nothing to do with the priesthood and its elect.

This is a new truth, one that flies past logic like a dove. It is not part of any elite. It is for the poor, and the outcast, and argues that God arrives in the form of an outcast in a tiny province, and was born in a barn, and that its only message is universal love.

Badiou cites Paul, "Knowledge will disappear!" (1st Corinthians, 13.8).

In scientific terms, in terms of knowledge, in terms of verifiability, Christianity is a form of retardation in politically correct parlance, we would have to say that it is severely "mentally challenged." It is, in the words of a current film, "religulous." But that is precisely its point. That is precisely its sublimity.

This is a beautiful message which the mentally challenged of the world are more likely to understand than the scientists and Ph.D.s. It operates at a strangely tilted angle to knowledge-centered societies, and "brings to nothing the cleverness of the clever." The clever look at it and say, "But this doesn't make sense! It must be banned! Please make it stop! It's so STOOOPID."

And to the consternation of the clever, it continues to grow. Throughout Africa, there are people who get it. It's racing through the ranks of the untouchables in India, where the number of adherents continues to grow. Christianity tumbles men and women like dominoes in order to lift them up in the name of the Lord.

This most baffling and paradoxical of religions is defiant toward Greek knowledge and toward hierarchies of wisdom. It mocks the caste system in India, terrifying and embittering the Hindu hierarchy. Even the Buddhists look upon Christianity as a bloody mess filled with pain and sorrow, and can't see past the finite aspects of blood into the eyes of eternity itself. Christianity turns the tables on everyone and everything, and the "tables once turned, keep on turning" (apologies to Mike Kettner for stealing his long-lost one-line poem, and redeploying it in a different context), never coming to right, making it difficult to eat anything and not consider it a miracle, loaves are loves, coming to light.

The Christian isn't required to be from any class, any race, or any sex. Unlike Nazism, it doesn't speak for a self-selected elite. Unlike Judaism, there is no chosen race. Unlike Marxism, it doesn't even speak for a class. It is infinite in its line of flight, constantly deterritorializing every settled structure, turning all conventions on their head, and instantiating a laughter that can only be seen as mentally challenged by the Greeks, and as impossible by the Jews.

When I read the astonishment and anger of the Christopher Hitchens', and the Richard Dawkins', I am reminded of the astonishment and anger of the authorities in Athens who laughed Paul out of the city, and of the astonishment and anger of the authorities in Jerusalem, who had Christ put to death for the audacity of his hope.

But in the strange face of Jesus I nevertheless see something infinite, something that can never be known, something so vast and puzzling, that the human mind looks upon it, and can only combust before its endless surrealism. Hosannah! Hosannah in the highest!

Saturday, November 08, 2008

Avoidance

How does one avoid the avoided?

How does one disremember the disremembered?

Why isn't the glass just at the halfway point?

What is the speed of dark?

Darkness...the absence of light.

An absence.

How does one know what they don't remember?

Yeah, cryptic. But I don't care.

WW

Thursday, November 06, 2008

Taking A Break & Flower Friday

Dear Friends,

I'm taking a brief break from blogging, as my pet human needs to spend her blogging time managing the website for a mission to China.

If anyone wants to read some highly descriptive travel stories about life in China, as seen through the eyes of some visiting Americans, go here:

PLCPC Mission to China

(of course, my pet human tried to schedule a brief training course on blogging for the two doctors, who are doing the China trip. But unfortunately, time got away. So they are emailing all the info and letting my pet human do the work.)

I will be back in a week or so.

Luv,
Skittles, The Huntress

Wednesday, November 05, 2008

BlogBlast 4 Peace!!

PEACE TO ALL NOW AND FOREVER!!!

Luv,
Skittles, The Huntress

Monday, November 03, 2008

Election Day

It's finally election day. Whew!!!!!!!!!!11!!!1

Whether you are a sleek tabby, a blue donkey, or a red elephant, PLEASE VOTE!!!!1

My pet human said: "I'm so glad it's going to FINALLY be over."

Luv,
Skittles, The Huntress

Friday, October 31, 2008

Clouds Rest

Yosemite Valley. Atop Clouds Rest looking westward into the valley. Half Dome is on the left.

The final approach to the peak of Clouds Rest, looking eastward towards Tuolumne Meadows.

This is why I climb mountains.

WW

Thursday, October 30, 2008

My 2nd Blogoversary

I called my pet human into my office today. I asked her if she recognized this photo. Yeah, she said.

Yeah, what??? I said. This is the first photo I ever posted to TWKK.

You're in the doghouse, I said. I saw that you posted over at Facebook that my first blog entry was Sept. 12, 2006.

Did you forget something???? Like my blogoversary?

I will expect a HUGE party soon to make it up to me.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen Things Heard Around My House This Week:

1. Skittles, just how many mancats follow you any way???

2. Don't bop Sam on the nose!

3. Don't go near that raccoon.

4. What's so fascinating about watching Bob take a shower?

5. I'm not throwing out a whole bowl of Friskies just to refill it again. Eat what's there!

6. I'm sick to death of politics!

7. You've been sleeping with Bob when Julie's away, haven't you? Traitor!

8. Get off the dining room table!

9. Don't play with the teddy dog!

10. Hey Skittles, here's a new teddy for you. It's a teddy hippo! Do you like it?

11. Hey, Skittles, you must be really special. You got TWO Halloween cards from your friend, Skeezix.

12. Don't you just LOVE your new teddy hippo?

13. Get off the dining room table!

p.s. I apologize to all who clicked on Sam, The Marmalade Cat's link in the Mr. Linky section today, only to find my site. The Pet Human will be soundly whapped for making that error.

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

$600 Million

From Campbell Brown of CNN:

(CNN) -- "You may have heard that Wednesday night Barack Obama will be on five different TV networks speaking directly to the American people.

He bought 30 minutes of airtime from the different networks, a very expensive purchase. But hey, he can afford it. Barack Obama is loaded, way more loaded than John McCain, way more loaded than any presidential candidate has ever been at this stage of the campaign.

Just to throw a number out: He has raised well over $600 million since the start of his campaign, close to what George Bush and John Kerry raised combined in 2004.

Without question, Obama has set the bar at new height with a truly staggering sum of cash. And that is why as we approach this November, it is worth reminding ourselves what Barack Obama said last November.

One year ago, he made a promise. He pledged to accept public financing and to work with the Republican nominee to ensure that they both operated within those limits.

Then it became clear to Sen. Obama and his campaign that he was going to be able to raise on his own far more cash than he would get with public financing. So Obama went back on his word.

He broke his promise and he explained it by arguing that the system is broken and that Republicans know how to work the system to their advantage. He argued he would need all that cash to fight the ruthless attacks of 527s, those independent groups like the Swift Boat Veterans. It's funny though, those attacks never really materialized.

The Washington Post pointed out recently that the bad economy has meant a cash shortage among the 527s and that this election year they have been far less influential.

The courageous among Obama's own supporters concede this decision was really made for one reason, simply because it was to Obama's financial advantage.

On this issue today, former Sen. Bob Kerrey of Nebraska, an Obama supporter, writes in The New York Post, "a hypocrite is a person who puts on a false appearance of virtue -- who acts in contradiction to his or her stated beliefs or feelings. And that, it seems to me, is what we are doing now."

For this last week, Sen. Obama will be rolling in dough. His commercials, his get-out-the-vote effort will, as the pundits have said, dwarf the McCain campaign's final push. But in fairness, you have to admit, he is getting there in part on a broken promise."

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I asked this question on TWKK over a week ago....CAN THE PRESIDENCY BE BOUGHT???

And lest you think this is just a conservative rant, I was prepared to vote for Hillary. And I'm a Libertarian, as far right as it gets. Obama leaves a lot to be desired.

Disclaimer: These are the opinions of WW, not Skittles, The Huntess

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Marmalade Monday

HI EVERYONE! I'M SAM, THE MARMALADE CAT!

As you may know, I'm in love with Skittles, The Huntress. And she's campaigning to be elected POTUS.

Today I was enjoying Skittles' patio, when a lady arrived with a camera. Her name was Christiane Amanpour and she said she was with CNN. She wanted to ask me some questions.

I got nothing to hide, so I said ok.

CA: Sam, the whole world is following Skittles' historic race for POTUS. So here is your opportunity to tell everyone what it's like to be a feral feline. Is it a jungle out there?

Sam: Nice to meet you. Normally I'm pretty shy and hide under the bushes when the humans come around.

Life can be a jungle. But if I have to be a feral cat, then I'm glad to at least be in this neighborhood. I live under Ginny's art studio next door, and sometimes I relax on the furniture on Skittles' patio.

There aren't any natural predators around here. So mostly I spend my time travelling my territory and hunting for food.

I'm madly in love with Skittles. I may as well tell everyone that if Skittles moves to Washington DC, I'm going with her. I can take up residence in the White House Rose Garden.

Actually Skittles has suggested that I join her cabinet as the Minister of Feral Cats. But I don't like politics. Frankly I know nothing about it.

I just want to be near Skittles.

Her boyfriend and running mate, SlyCat, wants to be friends with me. I have to think that over.

Hey wait! Who is that waltzing by????

Egad! It's Mr. L.S. Siamese. He's in love with Skittles too. Well she IS a stunning tabby. I can hardly blame him. Maybe he will go to DC too. He could be on the cabinet.

CA: It looks like Skittles has a share-him whether she wants one or not.

Sam, if you could tell the world one thing, what would it be?

Sam: Christiane, I would ask the world to help look out for feral cats. We need homes, food and health care just like everyone else. Support your local pet shelters. We will keep your homes pest free and give you lots of love in return.

CA: Thank you, Sam. Good luck to you in your travels.

Sam: Thank you, Christiane. I would like to take this opportunity to announce that I finally have my own blog: Sam's World. But currently Blogger has it locked up because it suspects my site as spam.

Hopefully, Blogger will unlock my site soon.

Friday, October 24, 2008

My Interview with Baba Wawa

A SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: SAM, THE MARMALADE CAT WAS SPOTTED THIS WEEK IN THE BACK YARD. HE WAS BEING INTERVIEWED BY CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR OF CNN!!! THE EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WILL BE BROADCAST HERE AT TWKK ON MONDAY NIGHT.

I was in the middle of a yoga class, when I was rudely interrupted by Barbara Walters. She showed up demanding an interview.

Since I'm a generally agreeable cat, I agreed to answer a few questions. But only on one condition: Barbara would have to join me in yoga.

BW: Skittles, as you know the stock market took another beating this week. Main Street America is in fear for their jobs and retirement.

Back on October 13 in your interview with Diane Sawyer, (who by the way, is nowhere near as beautiful and competent as I am), you predicted that we would continue to see economic distress.

Apparently you are brilliant or you have a crystal ball.

But first, our sources have discovered that you sent this political LOL to the uncle of your pet human on Wednesday, the day the DJIA fell another 500 points.

Our sources also informed us that this uncle was a Wall Street head honcho and that this was his response to the LOL:

"We need some gallows humor. This has been really brutal. I have been pounding the table to anyone that would listen for a number of years about leverage and margin debt and some very supposed sophisticated people have been ruined in the last few weeks. The tax revenues are going to plummet. If the higher income people pay most of the taxes then when they lose big, the tax coffers are going to be very dismal with many layoffs that will hit a large part of the population."

Skittles, what is your response to this?

Skittles: Barbara, an excellent question. But first I must disagree with you on one point. Diane Sawyer is far more stunning than you.

But I digress.

Many of us are swallowing bitter pills right now. Of course I personally don't earn an income or have any savings since I'm a cat.

This makes me uniquely qualified to comment on the tax proposals of both McCain and Obama.

Do the wealthy in fact pay the most in taxes? According to the Tax Foundation, the top 5% of earners (adjusted gross income) earn $153,542 per year.

The top 1% earn $388,806, and above. (That's a lot of Temptations!)

The top 1% earned 22.1% of all income in the US. And they paid 39.9% of all total taxes taken in by the federal government.

The top 25% ($64,702 and above) earned 68% of the income and paid 86.3% of total taxes. This means that 75% of wage earners pay 13.7% of all taxes.

As I have already stated, I am firmly against Obama's plan to increase taxes, especially now. And I am firmly against his protectionist ideology.

But McCain is missing it too to some extent. He's says he is for a tax cut, and I agree that at a time like this, we need to give a break to those that are paying 86.3% of all taxes. At the same time many of us want certainty that the government will take it's role of watchdog more seriously. Those top earners who were crooks are taking us all down.

But we need a serious sea change in our country. The uncle of my pet human railed about leverage and margin debt. Another term for this is credit....funny money. Some funny money can be ok, but not massive amounts that will implode on all of us. Limit the funny money.

AND we need to start saving as a nation. No more credit card debt.

One more comment. I think our idea of the American dream is distorted right now. It used to be about individual freedoms and rights. It used to be about graduating and going to college. It used to be about saving for a down payment on a house and raising a family. Now it seems the American Dream in many parts of our country is about spending $1300 on a credit card to buy Juicy Couture outfits for dogs and other flamboyant excesses. This needs to change too. But attitude cannot be legislated. We need a leader to remind Americans what that dream is about.

That's why you should vote for me, Skittles, The Huntress. The voice of reason in the unreasonable world of pet humans.

BW: Skittles, thank you for taking time to meet with me.

Skittles: I'm honored to meet you. May I suggest something? I think you need to practice your yoga a lot more.