Catpaw – diary of an angry cat

I was cruising around the TTC (Toronto Transit Commission) web site and spotted this little gem. You can sign up to get your monthly transit pass via snail mail. Fill out a nifty little form and supply a voided cheque and voila, no line ups to get your pass. It simply shows up in your mailbox in a timely fashion. Cool, eh?

Now… there’s one little problem with the form you fill out on line. Take a look:

In order to get your advanced TTC pass, they require your driver’s license. I don’t have a problem with requiring some sort of ID for security, but … seriously, a driver’s license? I know quite a few TTC users that don’t have a driver’s license, it really isn’t a necessity in Toronto. So they can’t fill out the form – they get rejected.

Yes, yes, I know, you can still buy your pass at the kiosks or booths. But there is a certain irony in an organisation that is promoting mass transit, requiring users to show a driver’s license to get a mass transit pass via mail.

You think the TTC could come up with a few choices for proof of ID.  A little bit of imagination is called for.

I just ran across this odd little item for sale:

Party Rats

What? You haven’t heard of Party Rats! You’re kidding, right? They’re the best thing to happen to partying since the mirror ball. People of all ages are putting these colorful, plastic, rodent lights on their fingers and waving their hands in the air like they just don’t care. Each 1-3/4″ long rat sends out a different colored beam of light, allowing you to create your own personal light show! Also great for the latest computer craze, night blogging! Five rats in each package. Batteries included.

Best thing since the mirror ball? Well ALL RIGHT! I can’t imagine a party without my tacky, outdated mirror ball.  Just think how cool I’m going to look with little multicoloured plastic rat lights on my fingers. My friends are going to be soooo envious.  And just think, I can type on my blog at night now that I have rats on my fingers!

Might I suggest, if you are having trouble typing at night you try this inovative idea: turn on a light.

I realise this is old news, but what can I say – the Right Wing have been busy lately. Last week former New York City Mayor Rudy Guiliani went on “Good Morning America” and made this bold statement:

“what [Obama] should be doing is following the right things that Bush did.” (I’m working on figuring out what those things were. If I figure it out, I’ll let you know) …”We had no domestic attacks under Bush, …We’ve had one under Obama.”

Later he amended the statement by saying he had omitted to include the words “since 9/11″. Oh that makes it all right then! We’ll just forget about Richard Reid the shoe bomber shall we?

Former Bush press secretary, Dana Perino, said in November that the Clinton administration was to blame for the 9/11 attacks, which occurred  8 months after Clinton left office. I guess Bush should be forgiven for not having enough time to read the security alerts regarding Al Qaeda – the two syllable words must have stumped him. Bush was given a briefing a full month before 9/11 occurred, entitled “Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S.”, yet the Bush administration did nothing to stop the attacks. It came out later that, despite growing concerns and warnings from the intelligence community in the US, the Bush administration didn’t follow up the warnings, nor did any of Bush’s advisors try to discuss the issue with the President again. Despite the overwhelming evidence that a terrorist attack did occur on US soil under the Bush administration, in November, after the Fort Hood attack, Perino said “We did not have a terrorist attack on our country during Bush’s term”.

Are these people memory impaired? Or are they laying the groundwork for the next election by reworking history? Not a group to let facts stymie them for long, they simply prevaricate (if you are a Bush/Palin fan, you might want to buy a d-i-c-t-i-o-n-a-r-y). If you repeat the lie enough, you begin to believe it. As will large numbers of voters. In rehabilitating George Bush’s reputation, they are making it easier for Palin (or any other far right candidate) to establish the moral high ground for any future elections. What’s next? Burning all the footage of 9/11 and all books that mention it?

Those loveable nut that collectively call themselves the “Teabaggers” or the Tea Bag Party have demonstrated again why they are incapable of understanding the basic fundamentals of the electoral system. Head teabag, Jeffery McQueen made the following statement on the show On Point with Tom Ashbrook:

… you know, in America we have a choice of four boxes for political change. We can go to the soap box, the ballot box, or we can go to the jury box. And hopefully we won’t have to go to the bullet box.

Ashbrook: Bullet box? Are you talking about armed revolution?

McQueen: Have you seen the ammunition sales the last twelve months?

Democracy is such a nuisance, isn’t it Mr McQueen. All sorts of people with different opinions get to have a say in how your country is run. Such an inconvenience.

Hey… anyone have a copy of the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights hanging around? Maybe you can photocopy them and shoot mail a copy over to the Baggy party.