Tidbits and Cat Treats — Pre-Healthcare Vote Edition

By Sniffles

We cats are intrigued by today's news about the possible vote on healthcare reform this Sunday. Is it going to happen, at long last? Perhaps so — since the Congressional Budget Office has estimated that the legislation will reduce the federal deficit by $138 billion. But what's most interesting to us is that President Obama has decided to delay an overseas trip so he can be in town for the passage. Where was he going? Rupert Murdoch's home country, actually.

So Idaho has passed a law rejecting healthcare reform before it's even enacted. You know what we cats think? The federal government should stop all Medicare payments to the Gem State, right now, without delay. Wonder how much that'll help the budget deficit?

Meanwhile, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter sat down for dinner in Plains, Georgia the other night with four political writers from Canada. "There were absolutely no ground rules," one participant blogged. The former President and First Lady were in fine form and opining on just about everything. We cats are not surprised, knowing the Carters as we do. We just can't imagine, say, George W. Bush doing the same thing — that is, being confident enough to hold forth at a dinner party with intelligence, deftness and grace.

Speaking of Jimmy Carter, which makes us think of the Middle East, we cats recall once posting that we thought Benjamin Netanyahu was a gigantic pain in the ass. Considering what happened last week, we rest our case.

And last but not least, let us turn our attention this Thursday afternoon to the spectacle of Republican infighting. We cats like it better than almost anything, and the GOP is giving us great theater in so many states. Today, we see that in Arizona, the right-wing nutbag J.D. Hayworth is behind John McCain by just seven points in the Republican Senate primary. Since we will never forgive McCain for foisting the famous quitter from Alaska on us, we cats PURR. But we warn Arizonans: Prepare for some nutty behavior. You know how unhinged McCain gets when he's under the gun.