Drink this...

Puhleez vote for muh kittehs on dis...

Miles and Sir "Dukey" chillin' in their favorite window. VOTE!

This... is Sir "Diesel" Duke

Miles Davis has a new baby brother playmate pain in his ass! The week before last I decided that Miles needed a buddy. He needs far too much attention to be left home alone all day and begged for it all night (and sometimes weekends) long. Two days after my resolution, a colleague of mine hit me up to take one of four eight-week-old kittens belonging to the neighborhood stray off his hands. Kismet.

Enter Sir "Diesel" Duke! His name in keeping with the musical theme of my life and in honor of the late jazz-great Duke Ellington, some of whose master recordings recently went up in flames in the Universal Studios fire. (Whoops, did I just write that out loud? Oh well, you don't suppose people--and by people I mean shareholders--really believed Ron Meyer that day when he said all of the film and recorded music masters were in a "safe place," do you?)

I'll try to get a shot of Sir Duke inside one of my Diesel sneakers to demonstrate the inspiration for the nickname. He likes my Simple sneakers well enough, but he's anything but--and already smarter than his three-year-old brother. Miles welcomed his fellow adopted feline kin with open paws on first sniff and Diesel made himself at home the first night in his new my bed. With the exception of a few high speed chases, the transition has been incident free. Miles has even stopped whining, plus he's getting some exercise.

Global sunbathing's greenhouse effect on this...

According to the Science Channel, the sun has been getting 10% hotter every billion years since it's creation. How does lil' tidbit factor into Al Gore's global warming theory? Do he and his lil' scientist friends blame that on civilization, too? When are they going to tell us that the sun will eventually vaporize the earth no matter how many aerosol products we use?

Celebrating 200 years free from importing this...

The Act to Prohibit the Importation of Slaves was implemented 200 years ago today. The Thirteenth Amendment, which officially abolished involuntary servitude in the United States, was not passed for another 57 years.

Did you know they do it for this...?

I offer my thoughts and prayers to the soldiers and family members of the 186th MP Company which shipped out to Iraq on Saturday for their second tour of duty. And I selfishly thank God for the peace of mind he brought our family for my brother-in-law's discharge papers two weeks before their new orders. Joe, I'm proud of you, but I'm glad you'll be sitting this one out.

God Bless all the troops and return them safely to their families.

Special thanks to Army Veteran Gregory S. Engle for this special video tribute to remind us all why they fight. Please stop whatever it is you were previously doing to watch and take the time to appreciate our Veterans today.