Ruffled fur?

Okay, both kitty cats were happy to get home. I put Magnum on the floor, and he started off to the food bowl. I opened the kennel, and Adira bolted out.

I quickly turned and locked the door. But I could have sworn I heard hissing. I dismissed it as high strung cats trying to settle down.

Came home, and Magnum was still growling and hissing at the sight of Adira. Poor little thing. In my laziness, the kennel still sat by the door with the side opened. Much to my surprise, Adira went back in it. I could have easily closed her back in, but still she sat there. I think it's in part because she feels safe from Magnum whumpings while in there.

Bedtime finally arrived. Adira did her happy cat drool fest. Then Magnum came in and jumped on my drawers of socks and other under the clothes things. He started growling and hissing, and Adira jumped off the bed.

This went on several times throughout the night. Each time, I tried to break it up (or at least shut them up).

This morning, against my better judgement, I poured out some of the wet food for them. I setup my two plates on opposite sides of the dining room like normal. Magnum stayed on the couch and wouldn't partake of his half of the wet food. So Adira went back and forth to both places, munching away happily.

Now who's the dumbass?

Where's my chill pill when he needs it?

Another Vietnam?

I was born after the fall of Saigon. So I have no personal experiences about what went on in Vietnam.

I have seen most episodes of a documentary about Vietnam that was filmed in 1980. So they were able to interview the major players involved. In short, they emphasize that troops would be dropped into an area, fight off the VC, and once secure, leave it for another area. The VC would then move back into the area.

I came across this article aimed to help Democrats come up with a way to have an Iraqi policy that's different than the white house, but be a realistic policy. His description of the current state of affairs in Iraq sums up what I've thought for a while now:

We are playing whack-a-mole, moving troops from one hot area to another and losing the gains we've made each time we do so. This lowers the chance that we can stop the hard-liners. It shrinks the chance that Iraq's unity government can survive and that its security forces thrive.

He address the issues about our dependance on foreign oil, reconstruction costs that produced so little of what was promised, and paying companies like Haliburton. But I see this one talking point as problematic:

And we must put Iraq into the context of a broader regional strategy. It will not be possible to stabilize that country without revising our policy toward Iran. Nor can we halt the destabilization of the Mideast region without a new effort to rejuvenate negotiations over a Palestinian state.

The region is so complex with different ethnic factions that cannot get along. A country like Iran will not accept any sort of aid or advise. I think a broader regional strategy is a good idea, but how to accomplish it seems a concept we cannot easily figure out. Personally, I'm for just nuking the entire region and anyone that wants it after that can have it.