Crash Speaks

Let me tell you about the week I have had. Really, it has been a terrible month.

Mom had a cold. I wasn't worried because I knew I wouldn't catch it, because she didn't throw it. But, she had this cough, and she would cough for what seemed like hours. It would wake me up from a very sound sleep. She even coughed in the middle of the night and would wake me up and keep me awake. How rude! Doesn't she know I need my sleep. After all, cats need to sleep at least 20 hours a day.

Then when the cold was over, she hurt her back and couldn't bend. Instead of gently putting my food dish on the floor, she tried throwing it down and it made so much noise I was afraid of what was in the dish. Burnie tried it out and he was OK so I decided to eat. It was better than going hungry.

Then on Monday, she locked Burnie and me in the guest room for a very long time. When she finally decided to let us out, I discovered there was no furniture in the living room. She said it was going to be reupholstered, whatever that means. I hope when it comes back, it will still be good for stretching and scratching.

Yesterday she tricked me with some treats in the guest room and locked us up again and there was a lot of noise and people walking in the attic. We were there all day. I didn't see anything different when she finally let us out.

Today, I'm ashamed to say I fell for her trick with the treats again. She locked us up again. There was still a lot of noise. Mom said we're getting a new water heater and there will be more room in the laundry room and the water would get hot real quick.

I really don't know why she keeps locking us up. I'd really like to supervise these workers to make sure they're doing a good job. Burnie could help out too, he likes to climb the ladder and would go into the attic to check things out.

Well, that's my tale of woe. I hope I don't get locked up anytime soon. I really hate being stuck in the same room as Burnie. He's such a whiner, all he does is cry, like that's going to help.

Hot Water

I've decided to take the plunge. Because of the way my house is laid out and the fact that I have no basement, it takes forever for hot water to reach my kitchen and bathroom. I waste so much water and time just waiting for it to heat up.

I've been talking about getting a tankless water heater for some time now. When I was living in the "money pit", the only good thing was that I had instant hot water, there was no water heater, just a coil on my heater. I've been spoiled.

Today the plumber is installing a new gas line for the unit and tomorrow the final installation of the water heater.

I could sound very noble and say I'm making this change in order to save the environment, but that wouldn't be true. I will be saving water and the gas needed to heat 75 gallons of water, but in fact I don't have a good record with water heaters.

I lived in Queens for about 39 years and I must have replaced 5 or 6 water heaters. Believe me, it's no fun turning on the shower in the morning and having only cold water, or going down to the basement to investigate that strange noise and finding three inches of water along the length of the house. After cleaning up and throwing out ruined boxes of stuff, I switched to plastic storage bins, but they didn't stop the floods.

I'm looking forward to again having instant hot water and not worrying about any strange noises coming from the area of the water heater.

Why Vote?

I just read an editorial in The Wall Street Journal which made me wonder, "Why Vote?" It seems that there is a judge, Louis Butler, in Wisconsin who ran for a place on the Wisconsin Supreme Court twice and was rejected by the voters twice.

After he was defeated by the voters in 2000, the governor appointed him to a seat vacated by Justice Diane Sykes in 2004. After four years of his being on the bench, the voters again rejected him making him the first sitting justice on the Wisconsin Supreme Court in four decades to lose a retention election last year.

Here are two of his cases. In Ferdon v. Wisconsin Partners, he dismantled the state's limit on non-economic damages in medical malpractice cases, the kind of tort reform that had worked well for the state (taxpayers). In Thomas v. Mallet his decision allowed "collective liability" in lead paint cases, making any company a potential target regardless of whether or not they made the paint in question. His nickname when he was a public defender was "Loophole Louis" since he was considered to be soft on crime.

Mr. Butler's nomination is a slap in the face to Wisconsin voters. They will be stuck with Mr. Butler for life.

Statistical Errors

I just heard on the news this morning that some of the job statistics that the government has said are wrong. According to recovery.gov, thirteen different congressional districts in the state reported receiving stimulus funds as of September 30. Montana has only one federal congressional district.

The recovery.gov site was set up in February, 2009, with a budget of $84 million to operate for two-and-a-half years, according to Ed Pound, director of communications for the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board which oversees the site.

Mr. Pound said his organization is accurately reporting the information that recipients provide. He said in some cases it appears recipients are entering the wrong congressional districts in their reports. The independent organization's mission statement reads, in part, "To promote accountability by coordinating and conducting oversight of　 Recovery funds to prevent fraud, waste, and abuse and to foster transparency on Recovery spending　 by providing the public with accurate, user-friendly information..."

As soon as I heard this report, I thought about a movie from the forties. This movie, An Apartment for Peggy starred Jeanne Crain (remember her?). She played a young (19) wife whose husband is attending college on the GI Bill. Miss Crain's character was very fond of quoting statistics, unfortunately her statistics had no basis in fact. She said that most people don't question them or you and it made her sound intelligent.

This also brings to mind something the good Sisters said way back in grammar school. They told us, "Remember, figures don't lie, but liars do figure". Just something to keep in mind when we are given statistics.

Cats & Furniture

Poor Crash and Burn!

I decided that my furniture was looking a bit ragged. The upholstery is a loose weave which didn't matter too much when I had Midnight, a declawed cat. After Midnight died, I inherited Crash and Burn. Unfortunately, they still had their claws and were about 3 and 4 so they were too old to be declawed.

I was very permissive with them in the beginning because they had been through so much, being taken from one home to my home in NY and then the long ride to my new home in NJ. As a result, they scratched the furniture. They kept scratching until I bought an outdoor mat and put it in the house. Now, they scratch the mat, Burnie sometimes uses his scratching post.

When I lived in NY, I had a white sofa bed in the guest room. Here I have a real bed in the guest room so the white sofa bed has been in the living room, along with the aqua couch. A white couch doesn't belong in a living room, especially when you have two cats, one of which is black. I decided to make everything in the same color family and was about to get slipcovers. I hadn't realized that slipcovers cost more than reupholstery so I went for the reupholstery.

They came to take everything away today. Naturally the cats had to be locked up so they wouldn't get in the way or go outside. They were so confused when I let them out. Crash looked at this little piece of paper as if thinking, "Did the couch shrink?"

Burnie was just confused. He looked all over for his favorite couch, but it was nowhere to be seen.


Burnie had to check out the mattress, then got his claws caught and had to be helped.



They're still very confused. I moved my office chair into the living room. We still have the ottoman for one of them. I also moved a kitchen chair for the other to sit on while watching TV. It will be at least 3 weeks before I have my furniture back, I hope they adjust, and don't start scratching the new pieces when they get here.

Civil Trial for 9/11 Mastermind

I'm sure by now you've heard about the latest slap in the face by the administration to citizens of this once great country. While the president is conveniently out of the country yet again, the attorney general has announced that the mastermind of the 9/11 ATTACKS in New York City, along with others at Guantanimo, is going to get a civil criminal trial in New York, just blocks away from Ground Zero.

The "reasoning" behind this idea is that it was an attack on civilians, not military and they deserve justice according to our constitution. Why won't the leaders in Washington accept that it was AN ACT OF WAR, not a criminal act (although it was a crime against humanity). They don't deserve the rights of our constitution, they should get a military trial, the same as any soldier. This way, they will get what they want, a chance to air their propaganda and hatred of the United States. Why won't the administration accept the fact that some muslims are at war with us.

It may seem farfetched, and I hope I'm wrong, but I fear that declaring the 9/11 attacks as a civil crime, not the act of war that it was, along with the attack on the USS Cole will pave the way for a pull-out of Iraq and Afghanistan on the basis that there was no justification for our being there. After all, the members of Al Quaeda and Bin Laden are just poor misunderstood people and we shouldn't pick on them.

As a result of this move, we will see more attacks on our country. We saw one just last week at Fort Hood by a self-proclaimed soldier of allah. Of course, there are some who think that person is just a nut and not a terrorist.

While these attackers don't wear uniforms, they ARE enemy combatants or freelance soldiers intent on destroying us and our way of life and our freedoms.

I can't wait for November 2012 when I can vote that person out of our White House.

A Question

I have a question that has been bothering me for some time now. In all the discussions about the cost of the democrats socialized medicine bill I have heard that most of the cost would be taken care of by weeding out the waste and fraud in Medicare.

My question is this. If you know about waste and fraud why haven't you looked into and stopped this before? Why aren't you doing something about it now? Why wait until the bill is passed?

I really wish someone could give me a good answer to these questions.