Maybe I’m just really tired.Â? Maybe I’m incredibly overworked.Â? Maybe I’m just cynical.Â? (OK… that’s not a maybe.Â? I *AM* cynical.)Â? These things, however, are just on my nerves and draining me:

[+] My in-laws’ cat Bartholemew being gone.Â? My mom has told me to keep up hope because their cat Homer returned after 48 hoursish.Â? However, it seems like there’s somewhat definite proof that Bartholemew was eaten by coyotes.Â? I’m sad for them and for the white monster because while he was bitey (he was referred to as “The Great White” and “The Daisy with Fangs”), he was a sweet cat and did hang with me when I’d go and visit.Â? He’s in the picture I have of my sister-in-law Joanna on my filing cabinet so I have had to put a post-it note over him so that I don’t cry when I look at it.Â? Sigh… maybe I shouldn’t have nicknamed him “Purina Coyote Chow” when I was down there last time?

[+] The fact that we rip the scab off the national wound every year in how we observe 9/11.Â? OK… first thing: the renaming of the day as “Patriot Day” is offensive to me as a decent human being and seriously offensive to the families of the vicitms and victims themselves.Â? It’s a political move that is on the lameness scale next to the whole “freedom fries” incident.Â? Secondly, I’m more than chill with flags being at half-mast that day — that’s actually tasteful.Â? Moronically suggesting that people wear red/white/blue and watching hours of coverage of the towers falling?Â? Not so chill with that.Â? (For the record, I have no issues with people posting where they were that day.Â? My issue is with those who are trying to co-opt the grief of others.)Â? It was my 6th year of media-fasting because I don’t need to see all the footage to believe it happened.

[+] People who believe that Sarah Palin is the best thing since sliced bread. OK… I know some people reading this are planning to vote for the McCain/Palin ticket for pro-life reasons, same-sex marriage reasons, evangelical Christian homeboy/homegirl reasons, being blue dog Republicans, hockey mom unity reasons, being part of the pitbull cosmetic industry, or whatever.Â? Skip this rant if you are.Â? I honestly cannot understand how otherwise intelligent people can find Sarah Palin worth voting for.Â? Seriously, I can’t understand it.Â? She has zippo experience to qualify her for national leadership.Â? Yes, she’s the governor of Alaska — a state that shares no boundaries with the lower 48, has no international boundary that’s remotely threatened by terrorism or illegal immigration, is largely unpopulated, and oh wait… it’s an oil state.Â? Haven’t we learned how stupid it is to elect oil company people to leadership yet???Â? Obama was in the Illinois legislature AND has served in the US Senate.Â? She was the mayor of a podunk town outside of Anchorage (6700 people is not a large town) before becoming governor.Â? Sorry… no parity there.Â? Then there’s the fact that Obama and Biden both told their people to leave her family alone… and she’s attacking the crap out of Obama.Â? Can we say “cannot play nicely with others”?Â? She also believes that the Iraq War is a “divine calling” and I feel a little uneasy about having someone in the White House whose foreign policy is based on dispensationalism.Â? There’s a lot more to my puzzlement at people actually *liking* her as a VP candidate but that’s another entry within itself.

[+] People who find words like “pollack” and “raghead” acceptable in normal conversation.Â? I don’t give a flying whatever if you were raised in small town Montana or if the First Amendment covers your speech — it’s still offensive!!!Â? Maybe most people around here don’t care but there are people like me who would prefer to be in a hate-free zone where we aren’t tempted to vomit when you open your mouths.

OK… I think my nerves are sufficiently worked now.