On the late evening of November 7th, or perhaps the wee hours of November 8th, Miss Abygail, our dear kitty, passed away from a mysterious illness. She fell ill, and did not recover. The veterinarian examining her x-rays was of the opinion that she had an enlarged spleen, possibly due to a cancer or infection. Having seen the x-ray myself, her spleen certainly was oversize looking, but I really don't know what a cat's spleen should look like. Anyhow, her prognosis was poor, and she most likely would not have survived a surgical procedure, so I had to make the heart-wrenching decision to have her put down.

Miss Abygail is survived by her brother, Little Cougar, who looks rather forlorn today. Miss Abygail, although certainly not a "lap cat", could be very touching. She loved to leap on my wife's desk, and meow right at my wife, looking for a nice petting. The photo here is one of Miss Abygail doing just that. Unlike the typical Abyssinian, Miss Abygail was quite vociferous; with a pleasant meow she would use whenever she desired a little loving. She also had another interesting habit; if you petted her back, her rear end would go straight up in the air.

Miss Abygail, we love you and will warmly remember you!

So in the African nation of Ivory Coast, the locals decide to bomb some French folks and unfortunately, an American too. In retaliation, French President Jacque Chirac orders the bombing of the military aircraft belonging to the Ivory Coast nation.

Sounds like an illegal war to me. A quagmire. Another Vietnam.

Funny, I wonder if Chirac got approval from Germany, from the UN, from the whining liberal Left worldwide? I think not.

It is 9:34 p.m., the electorial college map looks like a sea of red with an occasional blue blob on it. Kerry, who is completely unsuited for such an honorable position as the Presidency (see Stolen Honor for an elaboration), gets to return home and boo-hoo for a while.

I hear the music playing..

Na-Na   Na-Na-Na-Na- HeyYyyyyyy Goooooooodbye

At long last, after nearly two weeks of dealing with folks at GCI Cable, with talking with an attorney, with dealing with video production equipment misery, finally! I lost a week fighting my video production equipment, which decided to generate misery for me when I decided to "Block Blur" 38 seconds of the documentary. Those 38 seconds are the subject of a legal action brought against Sinclair Communication by somebody claiming they are, well, whatever. You google for it, you'll find it. I've seen the 38 seconds, and folks aren't missing anything; it's just a shot of some folks talking. Nothing I want to bother getting hassled over, so blur it I did. That's when the equipment decided to go south. It took a week before I could get the episode cut out to DVD for re-broadcast.

The controversial documentary Stolen Honor - Wounds That Never Heal will be airing in Anchorage, AK, on GCI cable channel 9, in two parts starting on Saturday, October 30th, at 9:30 p.m. Part 2 will air the following Saturday at the same time.

From the DVD jacket:

"In the mid 1960's thousands of young American men left their families, homes and jobs and went to fight for their country in Southeast Asia. Many of them never returned. Others were shot down and captured behind enemy lines. They were forced to suffer years of brutal treatment at the hands of the Communist captors.

Their horrifying days of darkness, starvation and torture were made worse by the actions of a young American Officer named John Kerry. As these American heroes suffered, John Kerry sat comfortably in the glow of television lights to tell a Senate Committee that these same men were 'war criminals.'

The story of these valiant POWs is compelling and powerful. "Stolen Honor" is THEIR story. It's the story the media won't tell you. It's the story John Kerry doesn't want you to hear."

For more information on this gripping documentary, visit www.stolenhonor.com.

I've done quite a bit more on my new Linux server at home, which you can find over in the Fedora Core 2 on Epia M10000 section. Look in the left column.

Wal-Mart. Depending on who you ask, when they come into town, they either revitalize the town or they kill off every last mom-n-pop in sight. Behold, a giant grey box in which the only thing lower than the prices are the wages. Where did all the displaced Filipinos who were working at the airport x-ray go? It would appear to me that they all took up employment at Wal-Mart. I go into our local Wal-Mart, and if the checkout person speaks English as their primary language, it is a fluke, a rarity.

Does the arrival of a Wal-Mart into a community suddenly provide new employment for the marginally employable? Does that same Wal-Mart end the employment of folks at stores forced out of business? Are new jobs created around a Wal-Mart? Do these jobs mainly involve flipping burgers and assembling sub sandwiches? I suspect all of the above are true.

But the prices! For sure, the prices are low, indeed. Judging by the heavy migrant workforce, the wages must indeed be as low. Certainly if one is to believe what one hears on the news, the work conditions might be best described as laogai.

What is laogai? Laogai is a Chinese term for "forced-labor camp." How does Wal-Mart manage to serve up such low prices? It isn't their job to manufacture the goods they sell, they merely sell. Where does most of that stuff come from? China. How do the Chinese manage to produce so much stuff so cheap? Well, for starters, the average income in China in 2003? $316. Of course, that represents the average income. Poor folks in China, which increased by 800,000, averaged only $77 in 2003. Certainly this figure does not factor those unfortunates who are serving time in laogai. How many DVD players, how many bicycles, how many children's toys are the result of laogai? Does Wal-Mart dare to ask?

I dare you, take a look for yourself. Visit this link to see the slave labor goods produced in Guangdong province, and hit "CTRL-F" (windows) to pull up the in-page Search. Do a search for the phrase "Christmas trees". You see artifical Christmas Trees for sale in Wal-Mart? You notice that those trees are typically made in China? Well, although I have no proof linking the trees in Wal-Mart to the ones produced at the Jieyang Prison in Guangdong, you might want to ponder if laojiao-produced artificial Christmas Trees will be cheaper to produce than ones elsewhere in China, or the USA, for that matter.

Looking for toys? Look here and check out #2 on the list, Shanghai Municipal Prison. I'm sure the prices are low, always. #19 on the list, Baimaoling Prison, produces a wide variety of goods, and they export to the USA! No doubt the prices are low, always.

Does this implicate Wal-Mart? No, not directly. But one can only ponder how many laojiao goods are parked on Wal-Mart's shelves. Clothing, toys, electronics, hardware, virtually the entire Wal-Mart inventory could be laojiao-produced.

If Wal-Mart would produce a statement about their efforts to avoid laojiao goods, and the distributors who bring them into the USA, I would feel a bit better. Somehow, I suspect that the real answer lies in their motto "Low Prices, Always."

As they say on TV informercials, though, "But wait, there's more!" Here is a link to the Laogai Report, outlining just how Wal-Mart gets those "Low Prices, Always." The document is a 12-page PDF. Take a look at page 9, and read the article "The Truth Behind Wal-Mart's Low Costs."

I think I should shorten the title of this article to "Wal-Mart, I Hate You."

So, my sister and her family are up visting. A few nights ago, Cougar, our cat, decides to go out into the kitty house in the wee hours of the night. There must have been another cat outside, as Cougar did start into the most awful caterwaul. This went on for a few minutes.

Heh, well, last night, my sister and family were treated to another midnight serenade, this time from some kook or alcoholic, wandering down the the street while yowling out "Whoo-hoo-hoo, WhOoOoOoOooo" in a sort of stupor.

According to those who peeked out the curtains, the police did eventually drive up and haul off the wandering opera star.

Who? Our "I don't want to go to Athens" Olympic no-show basketball stars, that's who!

I don't know their names, because personally, I don't like basketball. But, then, on the evening news, when we see the sports section, how many of these preening narcissists do we have to put up with? These guys who act like Snoop Dogg, have these loads of gaudy tatoos, and act like they are soooo bad. And they are too CHICKEN to go to Athens and represent the USA. Either that or they think that representing the USA isn't worth bothering with.

Losers.

I applaud Carlos Boozer and the other American basketball players who did show up. And indeed, some of these guys may be preening narcissists. But at least they bothered to show. They bothered to represent. The other guys? Those who considered going, but chickened out? I say "Losers."

Anchorage rarely gets lightning. Tonight we are getting lightning. Just a few minutes ago, I think a bolt landed across the street. The explosion was fierce! Whoo, that was loud. Even the cat freaked out and ran into the couch. Wish I had photos to show, but, oh well!

At long last, somebody bothers to write the truth! I don't get a dimefor listing this book, I came across it while browsing through my junke-mail! I surfed over to NewsMax.comand bought it after reading the summary. It's everything I expected.The book claims to point out that while Michael Moore portrays himselfas one of the blue-collar joes, he just ain't.

So, until my copy comes in the mail, you can feel free to check thebook review out if you wish. You  know, it felt good to buy thatbook. It hasn't even arrived yet and I already feel like I contributedto a good cause.

Anything that exposes Liberal Hollywood for what it is, is a good thing.

This Just In: Take a moment to read the fine article on www.davekopel.com,  Fifty-Nine Deceits in Farenheit 9/11, and see for yourself that indeed, Michael Moore is a venomous LIAR!

At last it arrives! My copy of "Michael Moore is a Big Fat Stupid White Man" has arrived at long last. And oh was it worth it! I'm fifty or sixty pages into the book, and it is a winner. Carefully outlining a career built on lies combined with a vicious "step on anybody in my way" attitude, the tale of Moore's rise to financial success is outlined; all the while pointing out the heaping loads of hipocrisy Moore deals out along the way. Purporting to be just an oridinary guy from Flint, Michigan; Moore is in fact amongst the elite of Liberal Hollywood society. While denouncing the purported evils of capitalism, Moore has raked in millions, placing himself squarely in the category of the "rich people", whom he verbally assaults regularly.

None of this was a suprise to me. Seeing Moore's pattern of evil layed out in detail, however, convinces me all the more that his goal in life is to see the downfall of America firsthand, and to play a leading role in that downfall. He is a classic fifth columnist, a subersive seeking to rip apart the very nation that has provided him with the very wealth he publicly disdains, yet privately hoards.

I suggest everybody buy a copy of this book, and read it fully! This book debuted at #9 on the NYT Bestseller's List, I would like to see it cruise at #1 for months.