Anyway, this one was cute and fluffy, much like the cats contained herein. Not hilarious but it did get some smiles out of me. The visit to Michael Vick's* house at the end didn't really bother me like it did scattercat. I can't say I really feel sorry for someone who gets filthy rich off of forcing animals to fight each other to the bloody death for the amusement of sadistic gambling addicts.
*I know Vick wasn't named in the story, but since he's a celebrity who got a handslap for running dogfighting rings he immediately came to mind.
[deep sigh] I've been trying to not comment on this...
so I did the next best thing to not commenting, I waited until late in the comment cycle, where it will hopefully cause less splash.
I don't like Michael Vick, I don't like football, I find the idea of dogfighting disgusting and reprehensible.
Michael Vick did
not get a handslap. He lost three years of his career, a career in a sport with a very definite and short lifespan, years worth tens of millions of dollars, and went broke from legal fees and contract penalties.
Vick didn't get penalized because he engaged in an activity that is cruel to animals, he was penalized because he was engaged in an activity that is cruel to animals,
and is popular with poor brown-skinned people.
If he'd taken his money and bought a stable of racehorses (all the same elements, gambling: albeit legal, gentrified gambling, and -if not quite as much cruelty as in dogfighting- plenty of cruelty besides, oh, plus a massive and institutionalized system of exploitation of Latin immigrants) the same people who condemned him would have probably praised him for rising above his poor roots(and he was about as poor as they come).
I like animals; I've raised almost every type of animal you can raise in the U.S. without needing special license, and in spite of, or perhaps because of that, I get really annoyed when people fire off little bits of snark about how terrible people are when they're cruel to animals. Unless you're a vegan, who wears no leather, wool, or silk, and lives with no impact whatsoever on your local biome (if you've studied the subject at all, that pretty much rules out anyone with a computer) you might carefully consider talking about 'animal cruelty'. Please don't use the 'cute' or 'smart' animal defense; I've raised and trained working cattle, they're as smart if not smarter than most dogs, and beautiful animals if they're kept clean. But beef tastes good, so no one cries for the cows.
This is nothing against you personally, Unblinking, this just struck a bit of a nerve.