Tim Russert is No Ordinary Cat

Today I am foregoing the shameless name dropping of Rush Limbaugh for the purpose of blog hits. I think it's important for us to recognize one of the greatest men in modern American journalism.

FYI: The photo is of Luke Russert, son of Tim Russert. It was taken by Alex Wong and provided by Reuters.

I did not pay for this, as I am a cat and have no money.

Now back to the show . . .

Tim Russert

For my entire life I spent almost every Sunday morning while Karen flipped between Face the Nation and Meet the Press. It's just what we do here at I Don't Pretend to be an Ordinary Cat.

Sunday's broadcast brought back so many memories. My personal favorite was Russert nailing Chertoff (who I swear looks like those Nazis in Raiders of the Lost Art when their faces are being melted off by the Ark of the Covenant) over the slow assistance after hurricane Katrina. I also like the "is there anything in your past which would make your nomination for presidency an embarrassment" question to ole slick Willie circa 1991.

I don't want to repeat what everyone else is saying. But let's face it: Tim Russert was by far the fairest interviewer in the American media. We have lost more than what we realize.

Youtube has the Sunday's show if you'd like to see it.

Anyway . . .

Have you heard about this?

http://www.thestandard.com/news/2008/06/13/ap-sues-blogger-too-long-excerpts

Does this mean I can't cite articles from Associated Press anymore?

What happens if I continue?

Are they going to sue me?

What do they expect to get? I'm a cat. I own nothing, as I am far too important for property responsibilities.

I guess they could sue Karen.

"Don't even bring me into this," Karen said to me. "My name better not be affiliated with your blog if I'm going to be sued over a violation of fair use."

Whatever

S0, fellow bloggers, what are your plans? How do you guys interpret this ridiculousness?

Anyway . . .

More on My Circumstances

So as you know I'm temporarily living at Karen's parent's house. This is OK, except for one thing:

The small one.

Every morning the small one (who they call Sofie) comes over. This wouldn't be a problem except she is very predatory and I spend most of those hours looking over my shoulder, hoping that she isn't behind me, making an attempt at my life.

It just isn't fair. She's allowed to come after me, going for my tail or ears, but if I so much as hiss in response, I'm the "bad" one.

There are just some things I don't understand.

"And so we go on, boats against the current, borne ceaslessly into the past . . . "

Norwegian Terrorists

Dudes, is this not exciting or what???

The next leader of the free world might be determined by TEXANS.

That's right, Iowans. The power is back to the people.

Anyway, I am a cat and it seems I am not allowed to vote (bastard Americans, so closed minded). Regardless, I have some opinions and I feel a need to express them.

Who Do You Want to Take that Three A.M. Phone Call???

Let's start with the obvious: if you were married to Bill "depends on your definition of is" Clinton, your phone might be ringing a little more often in the middle of the night, too. Think about it. You're the new leader of the free world and a total eager beaver, ready for anything. Low and behold the red phone rings at three am.

"Hello?"

"Hi, this is Crystal from Scores. Bill left his wallet at the club. Just tell him to call my cell."

Don't get me wrong, I don't have any serious bones against the better half of HillBilly. I'm just saying that the commercial is a little dramatic and I immediately went to thoughts of former President Clinton receiving "top secret" phone calls regarding "serious security issues" pretty frequently, if you know what I mean.

Although the question is provoking: who do you want to answer that super important top secret phone call at three in the morning?

I can tell who shouldn't have this job: Karen.

Sadie and I, again, are cats. Sometimes, after a long day of sleeping, we like to let loose in the evening, or sometime after midnight. We eat, drink, socialize. Sometimes we have guests who just appear in the backyard, ready for some partying as well. Occasionally, things get a little wild and Sadie starts hissing and freaking at our backyard guests, and sometimes something like the garbage can in the kitchen gets knocked over. Karen has no patience for the commotion and starts freaking out.

That isn't particularly "presidential" behavior after all.

Now consider this: the President of France is calling to inform Karen, leader of the free world in this scenario, that his country has been invaded by a bunch of Norwegian terrorists. As we all know, Nordic terrorists are not going to invade during the middle of the afternoon. So as the French are sleeping (or taking a cigarette break) those crazy Nordes come in, bringing with them legalized drugs, but no weapons, as again, these are northern Europeans and not Texans.

And President Karen gets the call right smack dab in the middle of the night.

It would not be an attractive conversation. Karen is very mean spirited when you interrupt her sleep. She'd make a nasty comment, regarding World War II and "speaking German", if you know what I mean.

And now, we have an international incident, involving the French, Norwegian terrorists, possibly some hallucinogenics, and President Karen throwing out sixty- year- old war bitterness.

What a wholly mess.

Anyway . . .

Did you know that in Texas, the infamous exit level English/ Language Arts test was delayed a day so that schools, frequent polling places, wouldn't have to deal with both the dramatics of testing and crazy freakin' voters.

Anyway, wish the children good luck tomorrow. We want them to pass their exit test, graduate from high school, go to college and get good jobs because, not surprisingly, I'm not supporting them.

Go 'Stros.