Seeing as it is Independence Day I thought to highlight a bit from the Declaration of Independence that is of paramount interest.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

Food for thought this election year. Rights given by our Creator - God. Consent of the governed, hmmm. I know where the governed have been overruled by judicial activism in a few instances, notably California and Massachusetts. Liberty threatened by political correctness or at least freedom of speech and religion are. I could go on but you get the idea. Let us remember what our soldiers fought to obtain - our freedom - and act accordingly. We have rights. Let us preserve them.

It would be advantageous if we got back to Constitutional government and got rid of all the excess bloat, regulations, and interference from the Federal government. To have a Supreme Court that would interpret laws according to the U.S. Constitution. And have elected officials responsive to the people they serve instead of their own interests. It is doable, we just have to want to do it.

There really wasn’t anything newsie I wanted to blog about, maybe oil hitting $145.85 a barrel. But that doesn’t take a whole blog post.

Kitties stayed in where it’s cool, chowed down on Fancy Feast, Purrfectly Fish and Temptations. Real excitement, food is gone before the flashy can get charged up so no action shots there. But spoiled kittycats thou.

I’m almost done with the juicy novel but I won’t be staying up to finish it cause I have an early morning outing tomorrow to celebrate the Fourth.

It’s still unbearably hot thou it only got up to 110° today. Yesterday it was 114° and that’s so hot that when I put out water for the kitties, it’s too hot for them to drink. Kindof a waste. Not expected to cool down any time soon. Darn.

We’re definitely in bear territory now, and not the furry kind either. The Dow just keeps sinking.

The stock market’s pullback, which accelerated in the final hours of the week’s last full trading session, left the Dow Jones industrial average officially in bear market territory, with the blue chips having fallen more than 20 percent from their October highs.

…The Dow fell 166.75, or 1.46 percent, to 11,215.51, the lowest close since August 2006. It now stands 20.82 percent below its Oct. 9, 2007 record of 14,164.53. The last bear market ended in October 2002.

And oil just keeps rising, what with the tension between Israel and Iran, no surprise either.

Crude oil hit a record $144.32 a barrel in after-hours trading after reaching a record settlement of $143.57, an advance of $2.60 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The Energy Department reported Wednesday that U.S. crude oil supplies fell more than expected last week.

It’ll only get worse. With retirement not that many years off, things are looking rather bleak. I don’t like it very much.

I’ll like it even less if Obama gets elected and raises my taxes.

Let me get this straight, we won’t attack Iran cause it would burden our taxpayers and Israel won’t attack Iran cause it’s government is imploding but Iran will close the Strait of Hormuz if attacked (as reported yesterday on FoxNews). Iran’s foreign minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, said (as reported by the AP) about being attacked:

“We do not foresee such a possibility at the moment. The Israeli government is facing a political breakdown within itself and within the region, so we do not foresee such a possibility for that regime to resort to such craziness,” he said. “The United States, too, is not in a position where it can engage in, take another risk in the region.

“Of course, there are people in the United States who are interested in that. But we think that the rational thinkers in the United States will prevent from that action being taken, and will prevent the imposition of another adventuresome act that would put pressure on the American taxpayers.”

So they feel free to pursue their nuclear program with blatant disregard for any perceived consequences. There are none in their opinion. And of course, they threatened to retaliate were the U.S. or Israel be so foolish as to attack Iran.

In Madrid, Iran’s oil minister warned Wednesday that an attack on his country would provoke a fierce response “that nobody can imagine.” Minister Gholam Hossein Nozari said, however, that Tehran would not cut oil deliveries and would continue supplying the market even if struck by Israel or the United States.

I suppose that remark was to calm the oil markets after they threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz, an action that would double the cost of oil and gasoline. And our response to said threatened closure of the Strait of Hormuz was it’s not happening.

A senior U.S. military commander said Wednesday that Washington would not permit Iran to choke off the Strait of Hormuz.

I suppose that too was to calm the oil markets. Which I doubt will be overly placated as reports filter in that they have a year before Iran has the capability to build the bomb. So Israel has to be thinking of doing something about those nuclear facilities. Track record, it has in the past even with Olmert in charge. I expect things to get interesting.

Mind you timing is everything. IMHO if Obama gets elected, expect no help from the U.S. if Israel should duke it out with Iran. So providing he wins, any action after election day would be a wasted effort. It just won’t happen. Iran will get their nukes. If the Middle East should implode before election day, McCain might stand a chance of getting elected if only to keep the cost of oil from going thru the roof. Why we might even realize there is a problem here and need a commander in chief that knows how to lead. You know, someone with actual experience here. I’m not getting my hopes up thou.

Under investigation, the Federal Reserve bank. Apparently the U.S. central bank has to answer to a higher power and it isn’t George W. Bush.

As part of the assessment, the Fed, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the major investment banks, mortgage banks and hedge funds will be asked to hand over confidential documents to the IMF team. They will be required to answer the questions they are asked during interviews. Their databases will be subjected to so-called stress tests — worst-case scenarios designed to simulate the broader effects of failures of other major financial institutions or a continuing decline of the dollar.

Under its bylaws, the IMF is charged with the supervision of the international monetary system. Roughly two-thirds of IMF members — but never the United States — have already endured this painful procedure.

So who put the IMF in charge? Did the U.S. have any say in the matter? More important did the citizens of the U.S. have any say in the matter? Did we know about it? Do we care? Enquiring minds want to know.

It gets better. Now this is the interesting part.

For seven years, US President George W. Bush refused to allow the IMF to conduct its assessment. Even now, he has only given the IMF board his consent under one important condition. The review can begin in Bush’s last year in office, but it may not be completed until he has left the White House. This is bad news for the Fed chairman.

OK, so Bush has some say over when we get investigated but it sure seems interesting he doesn’t want it completed until he is gone. Thus sheltering him from any fallout from the report. I’d worry about this if the economy didn’t suck bad as it does. We know we have a problem, don’t need the IMF to tell us that we do. Come to think about it, I’d still worry depending on what the IMF does or forces the Fed to do as a result of this investigation. The consequences could be dire.

Hattip SurvivalBlog.

Cause I was in the midst of reading a juicy novel when not doing the church bit. This will be the seventh novel I’ve read so far this summer. I find reading rather enjoyable.

Also reading about Meryl’s exploits at the firing range. She did very well now all she has to do is practice with a variety of guns so she can decide what she likes. Brings back memories, haven’t shot the old S&W in ages.

And caught up with the news out of Israel which was depressing so I didn’t feel like ruining my very fine day with blogging about it. It boils down to their going to get their two soldiers back - dead - in exchange for terrorists who are very much alive. Bad idea, makes that whole war seem a waste. Looks like Hezbollah won. Expect more of the same in the future.

Oil hit another record high today, something to do with tension between Israel and Iran over Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

U.S. light crude was up $1.76 at $141.97 a barrel by 9:57 a.m. EDT, after a record high of $143.67 a barrel.

If it came to war between the two, expect a lot more than oil going up. Whole Mideast could go up in flames. In the meantime, I have to fill up the gas tank and I’m not looking forward to that.

Bazel out during the day, didn’t even need the flashy although he was less than cooperative.

And after dark, note either he didn’t like the flashy or he didn’t like my taking a pic while he was on the can so to speak.

More better behaved kittycats:

Bad Kitty Cats Festival of Chaos at Pet’s Garden Blog
Carnival of the Cats at Victor Tabbycat
Friday Ark at the Modulator always
Weekend Cat Blogging at Stellaluna
Do go put your blog on The Catbloggers Frappr Map

Yesterday I was at Target stocking up on kitty food and decided to give Temptations a try. So I got some. Gave it to the little beasties tonight and no sooner had I turned around, they were gone. Kitties must have inhaled them or something, they ate them that fast.

Greedy little furballs.

Cece showed up too briefly getting in the house before I shooed him outside so I put food out for him. Hadn’t seen him in days. Cats are staying where it’s cool, don’t blame them.

Weekend catting: BKCFoC CotC ARK WCB

We can keep our guns according to the Supreme Court ruling today.

Individual Americans have a right to own guns, the Supreme Court ruled on Thursday for the first time in history, striking down a strict gun control law in the U.S. capital.

The landmark 5-4 ruling marked the first time in nearly 70 years the high court has addressed the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. It rejected the argument the right to keep and bear arms was tied to service in a state militia.

Justice Antonin Scalia said for the majority the Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess a firearm unconnected with militia service and to use it for traditional lawful purposes, such as self-defense in the home. However, he said the new right was not unlimited.

Yes there are still peeps that can’t carry weapons like felons and mentally ill folk but for the rest of us, we can keep our guns. Oh, just read the whole thing. I personally like McCain’s comment.

“Unlike the elitist view that believes Americans cling to guns out of bitterness, today’s ruling recognizes that gun ownership is a fundamental right — sacred, just as the right to free speech and assembly.”

Aimed at a certain Democratic opponent, heh.

There will be further rulings of course and a change in the makeup of the Supreme Court could reverse the decision but for now the Second Amendment rules.

I was in for a surprise this morning when I checked My Yahoo, stocks tumbled, sitting at 11,565.04, lowest I’ve seen it in recent months.

Stocks tumbled Thursday as Wall Street contended with a barrage of bad news: another surge in oil prices and warnings of trouble in the key financial, automotive and high-tech industries. The major indexes showed losses of more than 1 percent, including the Dow Jones industrial average, which shed more than 200 points and dropped to its lowest level of the year.

Guess Bernanke’s do nothing approach yesterday did less than nothing. Course the Fed is between a rock and a hard place when it comes to interest rates. We’ll see how it deals with this latest bit of news.

And not content with a little bad news, here’s more - oil is expected to go even higher, a lot higher.

OPEC President Chakib Khelil was quoted as telling a French television station that oil could rise as high as $170 per barrel this summer before pulling back. That and a falling dollar helped send light, sweet crude up $3.50 to $138.05 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Rising oil has saddled nearly all parts of the economy with higher costs, weighing on consumers who now have to reach much deeper into their wallets at the gas pump and therefore have less to spend elsewhere.

Gee, just what we wanted to hear. Not! Think I’ll go pet a cat, good stress relief.

Update for the curious from Reuters, not good at all.

The Dow Jones industrial average sank 358.41 points, or 3.03 percent, to end unofficially at 11,453.42.

There goes my retirement income.

There’s been a slight hitch in the truce between Hamas and Israel, you know the one that has already been violated.

Israel will keep Gaza border crossings closed another day in response to Palestinian rocket fire that had violated a new cease-fire, the Defense Ministry said late Wednesday.

The decision came after Gaza’s Hamas rulers said they would not police other militant groups that break the truce that went into effect last Thursday.

They’ll keep firing those rockets and get away with it. Sortof. Israel’s closing the crossings will delay shipping in the goods every time that happens. Hamas is already crying foul on that one. Now if only Hamas can get the border with Egypt open, the humanitarian supplies (those rockets and other arms) can start flowing with impunity. Why have a truce (hudna) if you can’t take advantage of it? And Hamas will and I’m guessing Israel knows this as well as I do.

Negotiating with terrorists, ones commmitted to Israel’s destruction, is not a wise move and will bite Israel in the end. Olmert isn’t working in Israel’s best interests here.

Bazel at the sink does more than drink, he takes a leisurely stretch. In preparation for being a bad kittycat, I’m sure.

BKCFoC CotC Cat ARK FF MM TT TT WCB WW WoW

Well, that didn’t take long before the Palis started firing their rockets at Israel.

Palestinian militants fired three homemade rockets into southern Israel on Tuesday, threatening to unravel a cease-fire days after it began, and Israel responded by closing vital border crossings into Gaza.

Despite what it called a “gross violation” of the truce, Israel refrained from military action and said it would send an envoy soon to Egypt to work on the next stage of a broader cease-fire agreement: a prisoner swap that would bring home an Israeli soldier held by Hamas for more than two years.

It looked like Islamic Jihad was responsible for the rockets fired not Hamas, some consolation. They’ve got so many terrorist groups there, they can pass the blame around easily enough and keep firing.

So far, the truce is holding. On Israel’s side.

Meryl has lots more on the truce or lack thereof.

Usually my news commentary posts are the ones that get splogged. Akismet does a good job of catching those. Today I got splogged on cat posts. Weird. Still got caught by Akismet.

Who’d want to splog cat posts? They are hardly newsworthy, amusing yes but splog material?

Note my other posts are not splog material either, just got dredged up by keyword I think.

Up, down, up again - the price of oil. Not the kitties on the counter although they too are up down up. The Saudis increasing production a tiny bit didn’t help.

Light, sweet crude for August delivery rose $1.38 to settle at $136.74 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The surprising thing was the problem with Nigerian oil. Surprised Nigeria produces something sides spam in the inbox.

Concerns about Nigerian production also boosted prices Monday. Royal Dutch Shell PLC said it cannot meet contractual obligations to export oil from a Nigerian oil field following a militant attack Thursday, and news reports say Chevron Corp. has been forced to shut down a Nigerian oil facility following a militant attack. News reports of a strike against Chevron by Nigerian workers also contributed to buying Monday.

Better the spam, easy to delete that. More to the point, does anyone running for President have a solution to this oil mess? Like maybe the obviously ignored drilling more at home which no one wants to do cause of the environmentalists. It would actually work. We should become energy independent, self reliant. Sooner rather than later. Saw a report where we could have more offshore oil in a years time depending on where we drill. We still need the oil. Not convinced biofuels will do the trick as the main product of that venture has been raising the cost of food. Some food you can’t even get too.

Course raising the cost of oil does that too. My icecream didn’t appear to go up in price until I noticed the container was thinner. Instead of 1/2 gallon I got 1 3/4 quarts a full 1/4 quart less for the money. I felt cheated. Milk too mirrors the price of gas, when one goes up the other does too. The basics are taking a much bigger bite of my very fixed income and I don’t like it.

You’d think I’d post something sooner but I was at the wedding reception so now I post a cat if you can find him of course. This was not from today where it hit 116° too hot for kitties to be out.

Weekend catting: BKCFoC CotC ARK WCB

Is here and Bazel is hosting, aren’t you Bazel.

“Just leave your link in the comments and Mog will add you. I’m busy”

So there you have it. Leave your link in the comments and if it doesn’t show up right away I’ll find it eventually. WP tends to moderate a lot. And Bazel, careful on the niptini at Othello and Gree’s wedding. Bazel loves his nip, very possessive that boy is.

“OK, you stick to the HTML, me do comments and all the niptini I want.”

I knew I’d get him off his furry butt to do something.

Next week’s host is Stellaluna. Go there on the weekend to submit your entry.

Other weekend cat roundups:

Bad Kitty Cats Festival of Chaos at CatSynth
Optional Theme - Summer, he’s also celebrating diversity
Carnival of the Cats at Skittles the Huntress
Friday Ark at the Modulator always

Technorati tags: weekend cat blogging, WCB, cat, blog carnival

Another Bazel pic to brighten up the blog. I have so few of him.

“See those claws. They’re sharp, get the point.”

BKCFoC CotC Cat ARK FF MM TT TT WCB WW WoW

That is nice, maybe gasoline prices will fall here. Won’t in China. Which is why the price of oil fell here.

Light, sweet crude for July delivery fell $4.75 to settle at $131.93 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

China disclosed that it will raise prices for gasoline and diesel fuel 16 percent and 18 percent, respectively, beginning Friday.

Guessing the Chinese government controls the supply and can set prices. Whopping big increase too. That’ll cut demand.

There’s a danger when government controls the industry, they can set the prices and there’s nothing you can do about it.

Had a couple more thoughts after watching the news. Updated post accordingly. There’s another danger too inherent in governments controlling the oil industry. That being using that oil to strongarm other countries to do their will.

President Hugo Chavez threatened Thursday to shut off oil exports to European countries that enforce tough new EU rules on illegal immigrants.

“Our petroleum should not go to these European countries” that apply the new laws, Chavez said at a press conference here.

He who has the oil wields power to change the laws to suit his interests. Laws elsewhere even. Better not try that here, nationalizing oil that is. And don’t think it hasn’t been thought of either. It has.

A Democratic lawmaker stepped off the idea of nationalizing oil refineries, telling FOX News on Thursday he only means to put “national pressure” on oil companies - a day after he endorsed the idea of government refinery ownership.

Wait til 2009 and see if they resurrect this idea. It will happen. It’s a Socialist’s dream.

BKCFoC CotC Cat ARK FF MM TT TT WCB WW WoW

Got up to 112° today and expected to be 111° all week, too hot to go out in the day time but go I went to get an ingredient I was missing for a recipe. Even the inside of the store felt hot. Won’t do that again any time soon.

And summer isn’t officially here at least not for four days. We still have July and August to look forward to. Fun not!

It could be worse, lots worse. Flooding for instance. Massive flooding. Iowa, the midwest. Homes, crops destroyed. Temperature and water aren’t only things to rise. Food prices will follow.

*sigh*

It’s always something.

Will the cease-fire last?

Gaza’s Hamas rulers on Tuesday said they have reached a long-awaited cease-fire with Israel meant to end months of Palestinian assaults on Israeli border towns and bruising Israeli retaliation.

The announcement came shortly after Egypt, which has been trying to broker the truce for months, said the cease-fire would go into effect on Thursday. Israel refused to confirm a deal, but said a “new reality” would take hold if Palestinian attacks end.

How many milliseconds? Provided it’s true. Some have their doubts.

In Washington, the State Department declined to confirm reports of a truce, but said it was supportive of efforts to bring calm to Gaza and southern Israel while insisting that Hamas remained a terrorist organization.

“We believe that establishing calm in Gaza and elsewhere is a good thing and we’re supportive of Egyptian efforts and other efforts to achieve this,” deputy spokesman Tom Casey told reporters.

“But saying you have a loaded gun to my head but you are not going to fire it today is far different than taking the gun down, locking it up and saying you’re not going to use it again,” he said. “Even if this is in fact a true report, it hardly takes Hamas out of the terrorism business.”

Like us for instance. Not holding my breath. History is not on Israel’s side.

Gaza militants have been bombarding southern Israel with rockets and mortars for seven years. The rate of fire increased after Israel pulled its troops and settlers out of Gaza in 2005 and stepped up further last year after Hamas wrested power from forces loyal to moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Fat load of good pulling out of Gaza did. Give them what they want and they attack even worse. Wonder if this truce, aiming at opening up border crossings and the like, is to allow Hamas to rearm so that they can attack with a vengeance come six months which is all this is supposed to last anyway.

Update: Cease-fire will commence 6 a.m. Thursday morning (11 p.m. EDT Wednesday). It’s official.

Time for a change, Bazel tummy caught while lounging on the sofa in the afternoon. Thankies Lisa Violet for sharing kitty tummies.

BKCFoC CotC Cat ARK FF MM TT TT WCB WW

I’ve had problems with Izzy/Cece’s blog for the past several days, some of which were the result of the ISP having issues as many of the routers along the network path were timing out, ran a traceroute, then problems with image upload which worked fine on the test blog - trunk-r8075, then this - Redirection limit for this URL exceeded. Unable to load the requested page. - when I tried to login or access any admin pages. I was able to logout. Weird. I contacted Dreamhost support cause I thought I had borked WP with the upgrades and downgrades, now down to 2.5.1, they didn’t have a problem so I tested it in Safari, worked there. Tried Firefox which autoupdated itself, worked there but TinyMCE didn’t. Forcequitted and restarted Camino, no go. Upgraded Camino, no go. Another email to Dreamhost support then followed his suggestion to delete cookies, it worked. So now Cece can post again. And I learned something I probably should have known to start with. Note Dreamhost support was very prompt in handling my case which I greatly appreciate especially since it was not their fault.

Welcome to Carnival of the Cats, this week’s edition dedicated to the Furry Fighter, Storm, who braved lymphoma to the end. She didn’t let disease stop her from living and being a lovable kitty. See her brother loving her. She touched the hearts and was loved by all that knew her. She showed us what true bravery is. It must be harder on the kitties as they don’t understand all the medical stuff, they just know they hurt. To her family, we send our purrs, purrayers and {{{{{{hugs}}}}}}.

On with the show assisted by them.

Cat in Hat Can’t Quit cause he’s the Station Master, cushy job I tell you.

Next up, Kiki and Precious. Guess which one poses nicely for the camera.

Oooo, look. Now that’s precious. Sleepy Bebe. They’re always sweeter when asleep, don’t get into trouble that way.

THE LEAN AND HUNGRY LOOK, Hakuna the predator, the opposite of cute, sleeping kittens.

Purrsday Night - Separated at birth, two kitties one out in the street, one rescued. Breaks my heart to see what they’ve suffered thru.

Rahel always catches the kitties in better circumstances. Let’s do lunch and they do look well fed.

“Mmmmm, yummy. Yeah it’s water, so?”

Blissed Out, that is one happy cat. Rahel treats the kitties rather well.

Please send a Purr for Ping as he hurt his foot.

Easy like Sunday and Parker shares another classic pose. Desktop wallpaper for sure.

Feed the cat first and maybe he’ll get his laptop back. Barry’s brave, I won’t let my cats get near the MacBook nevermind take it over.

Friday Cat Blogging: Where are you, Miles? All curled up in blankies, how cute.

Finally Feline Friday: What you don’t see is what the cats don’t want you to see.

“Didn’t see it, nope.”

Friday Catblog: Maus prepares for Flag Day and the photo spread, that’s one cute kitty you have there.

Unhappy and showing it, Mycah. Really, really unhappy. Poor kitty needs some Temptations perhaps or nipravioli. That might cheer him up.

LOL Cat Bible: Lectionary Readings for the Fifth Sunday after Pentecost This week you can learn the words to the Gloria Catri!

Clover is growing old and showing it. I’ve got two elderly cats too, they have given up on grooming but are first at the food dish. They can still move very well.

Meezer and Midnight Monday Sabrina came to visit And they cuddled on the gizzy, how sweet.

Finally Friday and Meowza posted something. What’s he so happy about? Hint, it involves food.

“And me. It involves meeeeeeeeee!”

Nother hint, I caved, gave in to the little beasties.

T13 - Faith Boo - Favorite Things #11 is a blogger’s nightmare come true. #13 she must destroy, sounds like my kitties, destructive down to the core of their beings.

It’s Caturday! and these kitties are just too cute.

Wishful Sunday with a mancat and his lunch. So thoughtful to photograph lunch.

Simulcats, what one human has to do to photograph two cats together despite the passive-aggressive tendencies of one of them.

Weekend Cat Blogging: Father’s Day celebrating the joys of fatherhood from a cat’s perspective.

Another sweet kitty, Kali, was helped to the bridge yesterday amid much purring to wish her well as she crossed by the gang at Gree’s shower and much screaming by herself. She didn’t go quietly, expressing her purrsonality all the way. Purrayers and hugs to her family too.

And say hi to Pet who just got out of the hospital. She’s still one sick lady. Keep her in your purrayers.

Photo Hunt # 114-Emotion(s) captures the emotions of both kitties and beans. I especially like the last one. The bean is pretty cute too.

That wraps it up for this week except for late comers. Next week’s Carnival of the Cats is at the Skittles the Huntress. Submit here or email your cats to carnivalofthecats(at)gmail.com.

Other kitty carnivals this weekend:

Bad Kitty Cats Festival of Chaos at M-Cats Club
Friday Ark at the Modulator always
Weekend Cat Blogging at Kashim & Othello

Technorati tags: carnival of the cats, CoTC, cat

Cause I’m working on Carnival of the Cats for tomorrow.

Submit here or email your cats to carnivalofthecats(at)gmail.com.

And spoiling them.

Then there was Kashim and Gree’s shower which I stopped in for a few where they mixed a new drink called a Blue Tuna Gizzy which the kitties imbibed along with niptinis then they went for a ride on Vespas which they pawsed to pay their respects as Kali crossed the bridge. Lots of purrs and hugs. Then back on the scooters but I was bout wore out for the day and had CotC to do so I left.

Now I’m tired so going to rest, nap with them probably.

Other fine catting this weekend: Bad Kitty Cats Festival of Chaos at M-Cats Club, Friday Ark at the Modulator always, and Weekend Cat Blogging at Kashim & Othello

Well, this just might put the kabosh on any military presence in Iraq. If the Iraqis want us gone, we have to go. Doesn’t look good for us now.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki declared Friday that talks with the U.S. on a new security agreement were deadlocked, as Sunni and Shiite preachers spoke out against the deal that would enable American troops to remain in Iraq after year’s end.

Al-Maliki said negotiations will continue, but his tough talk reflects Iraqi determination to win greater control of U.S. military operations after the U.N. mandate expires at the end of the year.

And we don’t generally like the military hamstrung by politicians, theirs or ours. Politicians screw stuff up. Case in point - PM Olmert was chiefly responsible for losing Israel’s disastrous war with Hezbollah a while back.

It will be interesting to see how and if they solve their differences. This may end up being a nonissue for the election if the Iraqis decide they want us gone. When, whether to withdraw, how many troops, how soon they leave may be decided well in advance of November.

Reading about the Fed’s Kobayashi Maru doesn’t give me a warm feeling. Especially since my retirement is tied up in the market. Not a warm feeling at all, no wonder the stock market isn’t doing so well.

I just got the retirement packet from work, I can retire now or wait until retirement age. I’ll wait, collecting disability now. I can survive. But can my retirement? Will the money be there when I need it is the big question. Right now I doubt it.

Hattip Survival Blog.

Food and water outside for the kittycats especially Cece cause it’s just too hot not to.

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