This one’s from before she got sick. She is a happy kitty, snuggled into her tissue-paper nest on the sofa.

She got through the surgery fine and may be coming home tomorrow. I am washing a blanket that I intend to use to create a “nest” for her in the guest room. She won’t like being shut in that much, but I need to keep Tig away from her. This weekend is another of my former students’ B’nai Mitzvah, this time the twins. They did wonderfully tonight.

Tomorrow, if Gracie is coming home, I have to get up, shower, dress in jeans, pick up Gracie, come home, set her up in the spare room, eat breakfast, change into good clothes, go to B’nai Mitzvah. Come home for a few hours, go to party for a few hours. Come home early.

Thanks again to those of you who are hitting the tipjars. You’ve helped me cover nearly half of the bill so far, and it’s been a HUGE help.

The job interview went well, but I don’t think I have enough marketing clips to get much further. However, there’s another job that I think I can qualify for a bit better, so I’ll be pursuing that next week.

In the meantime, elephant jokes would be most appreciated.

I love elephant jokes. I have always loved elephant jokes, and since I have never been able to remember jokes, I never get tired of them. Plus, I can hear the same one a milliion times and still laugh. So if you have any elephant jokes, I’d appreciate reading a few. Rahel gave me a bunch of Israeli elephant jokes last time around (it’s in the archives somewhere; too tired to search).

Elephant jokes would be a good thing for my state of mind right now. I’m going to put the blanket in the dryer and head to bed.

Update Saturday morning: She’s alert and awake, interested in her food, and hitting the litterbox, but the vet says she’s oozing from the suture wound, mostly serum. Lovely. Gracie’s staying the weekend. I keep on insisting they make sure she has enough painkillers, but they’re always on top of that, at least. I also left them a couple of her tuna Fancy Feast cans, and told them to try putting a little on a spoon and seeing if Gracie would eat it that way. I have spoiled her a bit, because I think it’s more important now that she eat and not lose any more weight, so I’ve been literally spoon-feeding her to get her started, or to keep her going. I wonder if perhaps it hurts her to bend down, because she eats plenty when I feed it to her on a spoon, less when I leave it in the bowl.

If the wound stops by Monday, I’ll bring her home, I presume.

The spin on the Gaza mosque incident will probably reach fever-pitch. Expect human rights organizations and UN condemnation—of Israel, of course. Not of Hamas, for using women as human shields to protect their terrorists. Witness the AP story:

BEIT HANOUN, Gaza Strip (AP) - Palestinian gunmen holed up in a mosque escaped Friday as Israeli forces fired at a group of women who streamed to the scene to serve as human shields, killing two and wounding at least 10, the army and witnesses said. At least two of the escaping gunmen were disguised as veiled women.

The dead women were among several hundred who had heeded a call by Hamas militants to ring the mosque in the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun. Their presence allowed the gunmen inside to escape, some reportedly wearing robes supplied by the women, ending their 19-hour standoff with soldiers parked outside in tanks and armored personnel carriers.

Troops seized Beit Hanoun on Wednesday in their fiercest bid in months to halt Palestinian rocket fire on nearby Israeli communities.

That’s the background in the lead. Nowhere does it say that there were terrorists hiding among the women who approached the mosque, firing at IDF troops. Buried further down, though, you find this:

With sporadic shooting persisting Friday morning, Hamas radio broadcast a call to women to go to Beit Hanoun to shield the militants. Dozens of women left their homes to a hurry to the mosque, and en route, came under Israeli fire, witnesses and officials said.

By midmorning Friday, veiled protesters had gathered outside the mosque, where troops were positioned in tanks and armored personnel carriers.

“Protesters.” They are human shields, and yet they somehow have morphed into “protesters” in AP language.

As the women first approached, volleys of shots were fired toward them, sending the group rushing toward a nearby wall for cover, according to AP Television News footage. In all, nearly 60 shots were heard on the footage, but it was not clear in every case who fired.

Two women, both aged 40, were shot to death and 10 were wounded, they said.

Why were they shot? For no apparent reason?

The army said troops spotted two militants hiding in the crowd of women and opened fire, hitting the two. As the women rushed away, at least two men disguised in women’s clothes were seen in the crowd. Jubilant bystanders embraced them, celebrating their escape.

So, did they check the gender on the two who were shot? Because at this point, I don’t believe anything palestinian spokesliars say.

Loudspeakers across Gaza called on people to come to demonstrations after Friday prayers to express solidarity with Beit Hanoun. By late morning, two rallies were already in progress in Beit Hanoun, and militants in the crowds were firing at soldiers, the army said.

Get the new terminology? Women protecting terrorists are not civilians joining the battlefield. They are “protesters” who are joining a “rally,” presumably to protest the IDF’s nerve in trying to capture terrorists who are shooting rockets into Israel.

The Gaza war is going to be an ugly, ugly war, and there are going to be a lot of non-soldiers who are killed. But when you put yourself in harm’s way—such as going to the scene of a pitched battle and putting yourself in front of the weapons—you can pretty much expect to be shot.

I would point out that the residents of Sderot are simply living their lives while the rockets rain down on them. They are not taking part in a battle.

Not that the media will care.

No, this is not what you may think, you dirty-minded you…

It is a creative idea by Gazan rocket scientists. It goes like this:

1. First of all prepare and launch a few Qassams onto an Israeli city. In the name of Allah, of course.
2. Then hide in a mosque when the bloodthirsty Israelis come to tell you not to launch any more Qassams. After all, these Jooz may be deterred by the holy spirit of the place. No matter that you used it as a regular shelter cum armory. That’s all in the name of Allah too.
3. When it appears that the mosque trick does not work this time, call the women and let them stand between you and the bloody Jooz. First of all it may deter the Jooz from shooting your asses off. And secondly, what is a woman in the eyes of Allah? There are a lot more where these came from, even if the cross-fire hits one or two, right?

Scum. Cowardly scum…

Cross-posted on SimplyJews

Gracie’s in surgery today. She’ll be out of it by the time this posts. I’m not going to find anything out until noon at least, which is my own choice. I have a job interview for a permanent position at Large Company in Richmond this morning, and I need to concentrate on getting it.

I had almost no sleep last night. Double whammy worry, I guess.

Well, hey. It’s the preliminary interview with the HR manager. I’ll get through it. Next week will be the tough one.

Update: Gracie’s out of surgery, waking up, doing well. They want me to take her home tomorrow if at all possible. I’ll know tomorrow morning.

I won’t hear back about the lab results until next week, but they took samples from the small intestine, large intestine, liver, and an intestinal lymph node.

Here’s hoping it’s only IBD.

So if UN Security Council Resolution 1701 calls for the unconditional release of the Israeli soldiers:

… but at the same time emphasizing the need to address urgently the causes that have given rise to the current crisis, including by the unconditional release of the abducted Israeli soldiers…

why is the UN negotiating with Hezbullah to free them?

Hezbollah is asking “a price” for information about whether two Israeli soldiers kidnapped by the militant group are still alive, Britain’s U.N. ambassador said Thursday.

Emyr Jones Parry’s comment comes two days after Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah revealed that “serious negotiations” were taking place over the soldiers, whose capture provoked a 34-day war between Hezbollah and Israel.

“They’re asking a price for proof of life,” Jones Parry said Thursday.

He gave no details on what he meant by “price.”

Nice. But that’s not quite the capper. This is:

Nasrallah said in an interview on his group’s television channel Al-Manar that a negotiator appointed by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan who has not been publicly identified had been mediating between Hezbollah and Israeli officials.

This would be the same Kofi Annan who accuses Israel of being in violation of UN resolutions at the drop of a hat, but who cannot seem to notice that he is willfully aiding and abetting Hezbullah’s violation of UNSC 1701.

What time is it, boys and girls? That’s right. It’s Israeli Double Standard Time.