It's not that I mind my cat cleaning himself in the middle of the bathroom floor while I get ready in the morning, cats do that after all.

I just wish he wouldn't make those slurping noises when he reaches his ass.

At least he doesn't sing.

"It's very difficult, once a right has been claimed in law, to reverse that right, but we're going to try," said the Rev. Christopher Coyne, spokesman for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston.

If ever you doubted that the opposition to gay marriage was about anything other than denying gays the same rights as everyone else, let this put your doubts to rest. Church officials want to fight in order to revoke the rights that gays now enjoy in Massachusetts. Never mind that the earliest-known church-sanctioned wedding were between same-sex (male) couples. And never mind that the most-cited scriptures condemning homosexuality are right next to other damning scripture that most "modern" clergy choose to quietly ignore.

It's all about rights, and control. And the control of people's rights. This is the biggest shift of power-control away from churches and into secular law since the legalization of birth control and non-emergency abortion. And they aren't going to give up that kind of power without a fight.

I went to see Van Helsing on opening night. What can I say? I'm gullible for vampire flicks, and this one had several actors to offer that I enjoy watching. Indeed, this film would make a good Kate Beckinsale double-feature along with Underworld. I'm also a big fan of Elena Anaya ever since I saw her turn in Lucía y el Sexo ("Sex and Lucia").

That all said, I didn't have my expectations too high, so I wasn't as disappointed as I have been in other movies in the past. The story isn't too bad, and I don't think that the plot devices to bring in both Frankenstein's Monster and the Wolfman were too contrived (as some have suggested). Alas, I felt like Hugh Jackman was a little too Logan-like in his performance– it really felt like Wolverine versus Dracula but without the claws. Probably the best performance of the cast was from David Wenham as Carl, the Vah Helsing equivalent of a James Bond "Q". Of course, the three brides are all hot, as is Beckinsale in her busty costumes.

For me, one of the most disappointing areas were the computer-generated effects. In particular, the rendition of Mr. Hyde in the opening sequence. It felt almost like the same half-assed work as in LXG. The werewolves were probably the best-done of the effects, though the wives had, well, "interesting" harpy-life forms that allowed them to fly around like bats, but with the ability to grab at and drag things around, as well as taunt. Taunting is generally important when you're a villian. One thing I noticed about the harpies, though, was the conspicuous lack of nipples.

Anyway, I'd say the movie is a worthwhile matinee, and since I'm such a vampire-geek I'll probably get the DVD one day. But since I haven't even gotten around to acquiring the Underworld DVD, I don't see being in a great rush.

Another great bit from Respectful of Otters, this one shows the various theories on the real source of blame for the prisoner torture:

Who's ultimately to blame for the atrocities at Abu Ghraib? Various conservative commentators are rounding up the usual suspects:

1. Women.
2. Feminists.
3. Muslims.
4. The academic left.

(Courtesy of Media Matters, plus alert Respectful of Otters commenter pepi.)

5. Lesbians.

(Courtesy of Kathryn Cramer.)

6. Feminists and gays, acting in cahoots.

(Courtesy of World O' Crap, who has also been all over the "it's women's fault" argument.)

And of course, ultimately,
7. It's Bill Clinton's fault.

(Courtesy of Atrios.)

And thus we see the lengths it's possible to go to in order to avoid having your worldview shaken.

All of the number-points are linked to stories at the RoO site. The ones on MediaMatters.org are good, as there are some other really good related links along the left-hand column (including some data on how Rush Limbaugh is defending for the fifth straight day his assertion that what happened at the prison was nothing worse than a fraternity prank-gone-wrong).

Has anyone actually seen Michael Moore and Rush Limbaugh in the same room at the same time? Because I'm beginning to think that the only "vast conspiracy" is coming from idiots like those, who try to leverage their notoriety into convincing the rest of the world that they are actually at all representative of people's views. Rather, I think both are gassy wind-bags who do more for the opposite political side as the one they profess to believe in.

Less than 24 hours after accusing the Walt Disney Company of pulling the plug on his latest documentary in a blatant attempt at political censorship, the rabble-rousing film-maker Michael Moore has admitted he knew a year ago that Disney had no intention of distributing it.

Granted, this doesn't mean that his "understanding" wasn't based on the same set of data– this being an election year, Disney CEO being a big GOP supporter, etc.– but he clearly has been whining far beyound any right he has to be. And because of crap like this, and the "creative editing" he employed in Bowling for Columbine, I don't know if it will be worth going to see the new one, since I won't know how much is fact or fiction. Because if I want fiction, I can find much, much more entertaining cinema to see in the months ahead.

Today, at approximately 1:13PM (PDT), my company's data-centers received and handled their one-billionth call. We celebrated appropriately, with McDonald's and Finger Blaster rockets.

Being a (relatively) recent addition to the company (less than two years on staff, at a company slightly over 5 years in age), I don't know how long it took us to reach 1,000,000,000. But I'm told that we expect to cover the next billion within eight months.