Month: August 2006

I’ve had a cat since I was a child. (No, not the same cat. Wake up; I’m an old fart.) Right now, we have three cats. I like cats in part, because, unlike dogs, cats are very much like people: the world revolves around THEM. Show me someone who hates cats and I’ll show you, someone who’s most likely a controlling, manipulative S.O.B.

But… cats make me crazy. Maybe literally. And if you have cats, it’s quite likely they make you crazy too. Literally.

Or at least neurotic.

Check this out.

A parasitic microbe commonly found in cats might have helped shape entire human cultures by manipulating the personalities of infected individuals, according to a new study…

…people living in those [countries] with higher rates of T[oxoplasma] gondii infection scored higher on average for neuroticism, defined as an emotional or mental disorder characterized by high levels of anxiety, insecurity or depression.

And this.

Toxoplasma gondii is a common parasite found in the guts of cats; it sheds eggs that are picked up by rats and other animals that are eaten by cats. Toxoplasma forms cysts in the bodies of the intermediate rat hosts, including in the brain…

…Oxford scientists discovered that the minds of the infected rats have been subtly altered. In a series of experiments, they demonstrated that healthy rats will prudently avoid areas that have been doused with cat urine. In fact, when scientists test anti-anxiety drugs on rats, they use a whiff of cat urine to induce neurochemical panic.

However, it turns out that Toxoplasma-ridden rats show no such reaction. In fact, some of the infected rats actually seek out the cat urine-marked areas again and again. The parasite alters the mind (and thus the behavior) of the rat for its own benefit.

If the parasite can alter rat behavior, does it have any effect on humans?

Urm, could be…

Dr. E. Fuller Torrey (Associate Director for Laboratory Research at the Stanley Medical Research Institute) noticed links between Toxoplasma and schizophrenia in human beings, approximately three billion of whom are infected with T. gondii:

So, feeling a lil depressed, anxious or inclined toward risky behavior? Maybe even kinda schizoid from time to time? (“I talk to the voices in my head. I say, ‘Get out of my head!’ They tell me I’m crazy. Me? Crazy? THEY’RE the ones in my head!”)

Pet your cat.

Scratching around in Ferdy’s litterbox. *heh*

If this post, from Bear Creek Ledger, doesn’t turn your crank, get a new crank.

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Illegal Alien Stole 10 yr old girl’s identity
By Toni at Bear Creek Ledger

How would you like to find out your child’s identity had been stolen? You of course probably wouldn’t know until the child reached adulthood.

Kern found out quite by accident when Hayley’s application for the North Carolina Children’s Health Insurance Program was initially rejected because her earned income was too high. Hayley is 10 years old. She doesn’t have any earned income.

Guess the Social Security Administration doesn’t look at earned income for 10 year olds or 5 year olds for that matter.
What she learned was that a man, an illegal immigrant in his 20s, had been working under Hayley’s Social Security number for the past six years.
[…]
Rosario does not speak English. Through an interpreter, Knight learned that when Rosario came to the U.S. from Mexico at age 22, he was told he needed “work papers” to get a job. The working papers acquaintances provided was a Social Security card with Rosario’s name and a fraudulent number. He believed the number was the “work papers” that allowed him to work in the U.S. Knight said Rosario was at a loss to understand what he had done wrong.

As much as I’d like to empathize with this Mexican man, I can’t. I find it difficult to believe this man has been in the US working for 6 years and is unaware of the political fight going on with illegal aliens in this country. The one consistency with this man though; he has been in this country for 6 years, he can’t speak any English and yet has a drivers license and vehicle. I’m surprised he hasn’t purchased a home yet!

The mother, Shelly Kern now has the terrible task of trying to clear her childs identity. Clearing your child’s name can be just as frustrating and infuriating as clearing an adult’s name. Kern said maybe more so. First, she was referred to the regional Social Security Administration office where she was told there was nothing they could do. They sent her to the Employment Security Commission. Neither agency nor the DSS has enforcement powers, so Kern went to the Star Police Department.

[…]

When Kern tried to order a credit report on her daughter, she hit obstacle after obstacle. 0nline, the credit reporting agencies want credit information that her daughter, at age 10, does not have and she cannot get a credit report for Rosario, no matter that the Social Security number is fraudulent. She has appealed to the N.C. Attorney General’s Office for assistance.

Apparently this has been happening for years:

The practice of stealing, selling and using Social Security numbers from juveniles began over 20 years ago in southern California and has spread throughout the country. Apparently, the SSNs are obtained through brokers, who are primarily Permanent Legal Residents. The “brokers” physically monitor court house records of newborns, and obtain their birth registry issued SSNs from open public records, or from other Permanent Legal Residents/Naturalized Citizens who are employees of city and county government that have access to tax records.

The reason this illegal practice has been relatively successful is that the IRS/SSA doesn’t note that one to five year old children shouldn’t be working, despite the SSA records that show the age of number holders. Also, ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) is not known for pursuing this line of investigation.

If you have children you should really read the rest of this story since there’s more information covered that you should know.

The Courier-Tribune :: News Page

H/T: ALIPAC Forum

And of course, I want to give a bit of promo to Dan Demay’s song – Illegal.

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This has been a production of the Guard the Borders Blogburst. It was started by Euphoric Reality, and serves to keep immigration issues in the forefront of our minds as we’re going about our daily lives and continuing to fight the war on terror. If you are concerned with the trend of illegal immigration facing our country, join our Blogburst! Just send an email with your blog name and url to euphoricrealitynet at gmail dot com.

Monday’s open trackback post. Link to this post and track back. More below the post body.

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Hodgepodge post. You are warned…

Yum. Did you know Toyota made chocolate chip cookies? Really good stuff, maynard. Continue reading “Toyota Tollhouse Cookies/Monday Open Post”

But it’s just Canada, right?

🙂

Make a tinfoil hat for your computer. It’s your only hope.

Found at The Crazy Rants of Samantha Burns

At All Costs (Honor Harrington)

I’d been meaning to read David Weber’s At All Costs for nearly a year now, and finally got around to it a week or so ago. Glad I did for more reasons than just that Weber can tell a tale well. In the course of unfolding the story, he reminded me of an old friend:

David and the Phoenix

I first read the book when it came out as a “Weekly Reader”. When I picked it up, it was more out of desperation than anything else—I’d read everything else available and needed to feed my addiction to the printed word. My impression was that it was “too young” for me… until I started reading.

Yes, it’s a “juvie”–and a “young” one at that, but… it’s just a very good story, well-told by a literate author.

I just got my copy in the mail today and ditched everything else on my schedule and simply read it.

Heck, Lovely Daughter has said she’s dropping in tonight (driving Guido Yaris) and Bubba’s still in residence (he’s not moving back to school for two more weeks), so we may just have a storytime tonight.

Dad’s reading.

🙂

Get one of your own. Read it to yourself and to your children/grandchildren. You’ll love it. So will they.

Linkin’ this one in over at Angel’s place, Woman Honor Thyself.

This is Friday’s Open Trackback Alliance post, open for trackbacks Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Link to this post and track back. More below the post body.

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No long post, today, just a link to someone else who makes the point that the world’s turned upside down, relatively unimportant “news” dominates while real news languishes, and self-appointed opinion makers have no judgement at all.

“…it is hard to imagine winning this war with a media incapable of basic judgments about priorities; about obvious good and obvious evil.”

And, I might add, a political elite more concerned with preening, chest-thumping and making points on CNN than with grappling seriously with real issues. Priorities? Good and evil? No! Jiggered polls, re-election, shredding the Constitution and the rule of law, and screwing the little guy—yes!. And screwing the not-so-little guy, too, if it will make points with the Mass Media Podpeople’s Army, Kofi’s Kritters, Academia Nut Fruitcakes and their ilk.

“Suppose you were a congressman, and suppose you were an idiot. But I repeat myself.” —Mark Twain

*sigh*

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As I said, this is an open trackback post, open all weekend long. Link to this post and then track back. If you want to host your own linkfests, check out

Also note the other fine blogs featuring linkfests at Linkfest Haven.

Ya know those “life skills” classes our pubschools waste time on that feature a five-/ten-pound bag of flour (or some such–a dozen eggs, whatnot) as something for kids to haul around, be responsible for care, etc. for a week, supposedly in place of a baby?

Yeh, that.

Well, confession time segue-ing into “saving baby”.

I sometimes talk about folks being “dumb as a bag of hammers”. Well, I have a bag of hammers, almost. One I’ve bought, others from the toolboxes of various relatives who’ve gone on to their reward. It’s good I have a large collection of hammers—including five ordinary claw hammers of various vintages–cos I tend to just set ’em down where I am using them and when I go back to look for ’em to put ’em away, they’re… gone. Walked off. Decided to play hide n seek with me. Whatever.

Oh, they always turn up. Eventually. And get put “where they belong”… until the next time.

Same thing with tape measures and a few other tools.

So, I got a new (cheapo, but nice) tape measure yesterday and have been trying to play “saving baby” with it. When I set it down and walk off from it, I immediately go back and pick it up and cuddle and rock it while commenting something like, “Oh, Baby! You could have rolled right offa that counter and hurt yourself on the floor! I must take better care of you!”

Maybe it’ll get tired of being babied and run off to find my other tape measures.

Sure it’s weird, but you expected something else from America’s Third World Countyâ„¢?

🙂

…for American foreign policy in the Middle East:

THE KILKENNY CATS

There were once two cats of Kilkenny.
Each thought there was one cat too many;
So they fought and they fit,
And they scratched and they bit,
Till, excepting their nails,
And the tips of their tails,
Instead of two cats, there weren’t any.

Shiites hate Sunnis.

Iran hates Iraq.

Almost everyone hates the Saudis (though they kiss up to the fake royals).

And so it goes. There are so very many factions in the Muslim world who hate each other that perhaps the best American foreign policy in the Middle East might be to encorage such factionalism and “brotherly hatred” in hopes that the eternally self-destructive Muslim world will play Kilkenny cats for us and simply eat itself up. (Of course, when one or another side looks like it’s gaining ascendency, playing quartermaster to the “loser(s)” to keep ’em bleeding each other equally would be a Very Good Thing.)

…So they fought and they fit,
And they scratched and they bit,
Till, excepting their nails,
And the tips of their tails,
Instead of two cats, there weren’t any.

It’s a thought (which is one thought more than seems to have been put into our current Mass Media Podpeople-driven foreign policy).

Think the ants’ll stay off this one at Basil’s? Looking for some lettuce and tomato at TMH’s Bacon Bits.

In lieu of a full xposting on the American Communist Lawyers Union from STACLU this week, how about a buffet of STACLU’s recent wares? (Read more at the links provided)

Blue Plate Special

When the ACLU wins a case against the Boy Scouts, the public display of the Ten Commandments, veterans memorials, and other symbols of American history and heritage guess who pays them? You do! However, there is current legislation going before the Senate Subcommittee on the Constitution, as well as a companion bill going before the House that is designed to put a stop to this…

Soup du jour

Senate Passes Legislation To Protect Mt. Soledad Cross… Once this is signed by the President, which will no doubt happen, it will moot all current court battles by making it a Federal issue instead of a State one…

and dessert:

…we all know the philosphy that the ACLU and its followers adhere to: “If standards are good, then double standards must be twice as good.”

OK, so three doesn’t quite make a smörgÃ¥sbord, but there’s more at STACLU on these and other topics, all related to defense of our civil liberties from attacks by the ACLU.

I begin this mini-micro-roundup of interesting stuff ’round and about with a quote from a reader’s email over at Chaos manor Musings:

“Political correctness is affirmative action for lousy ideas.”

While you’re mulling that one over (and the meta-commentary it makes on affirmative action), here are a few intersting posts and other tidbits from my limited cruisin’s this week, so far.

Two must-reads from Planck’s Constant (Yeh, I know they’re included in an open trackbacks post, but these are too good to let languish there):

Do the Christian thing. *heh* Well-said.

The Scorpion and the Frog, re-framed.

Woody makes a case for Geogians to re-elect the racist Cynthia McKinney. Interesting arguments, Woody. Wanna make the same case for, oh, say… Billary? 😉

While we’re on McKinney, Ann Coulter has a word or three on the topic…

“Cynthia McKinney: One of the most intelligent Democrats in the country.”

Social networking… in the hands of the narcs, the undoing of some dumb parents. (How do I know they’re dumber than a bag o’ hammers? Look at their progeny… )

More fake news exposed by Dan Rhiel. Seems the Mass Media Podpeople learned the wrong lesson from Ra^thergate. Naturally.

Well, Kim, I’m drooling, too. Good heavens, that’s purty!

Stupidity has its price, even in our cradle-to-grave nanny state society. The Median Sib asks, What was she thinking?. Obviously, nothing. *sigh* The article doesn’t say, but the woman referred to could have been the head of any number of departments in an Academia Nut Fruitcake Bakery or Feddle Gummint Bureaucrappy. Thems things that takes real smarts.

That’s about it for now. Sure, there’s a ton more (like commentary on the Murtha suit from a buncha perspectives), but I feel like stopping here, for now. Need more caffeine. Or more sleep. Or both.