The Internet website LiveScience.com recklessly reveals a dirty little secret about cats with no apparent realization that the information might put cats out of business if we all come to realize what we have been sponsoring all these years. What we have been sponsoring is wholesale mayhem. We have been harboring fuzzy little murder machines that cut a merciless swath of daily death through millions of well-intentioned though filthy rodents.LiveScience.com makes the brave and honest point, whether we want to hear it or not, that rodent populations would explode without cats — our cats — carrying out their constant savagery/Bill Hall, Lewiston Tribune. More here.

Question: Is your cat a good mouser?

Animal control officers wore white hazardous material suits as they worked to remove potentially dozens of cats from a Spokane home Wednesday. The couple who live at the residence, located on the 4000 block of North Addison Street, told SpokAnimal C.A.R.E. they have 39 cats. Officers had removed 20 cats as of Wednesday evening. SpokAnimal officials said the unidentified couple who live at the residence was cooperating and no charges have been filed, so they released few details Wednesday. Spokane County records show John K. Billington and Pamela M. Billington own the property, but it is unknown whether they are the two people currently living in the squalid home, which smelled strongly of urine/Chelsea Bannach, SR. More here. (Christopher Anderson's SR photo: SpokAnimal Animal Control Officer Chad Himelspach holds one of the many cats that were removed from a home on Wednesday)

Question: How many cats would a neighbor have to have before you consider it a hoard?

So, a berrypicker challenged me to post the 12 Cats of Christmas in the next 5 days. He may have been joking, but I think that's a WONDERFUL idea! Of course I only have 2 cats, but I'm sure I have a picture or 2,000,000 of them.

Meet Thor, our youngest kitty. He's grown a lot and he's not much use as an intern, but by golly he is CUTE!

Do you prefer

• Cats
• Dogs
• Other

PS: Don't believe the rumor that cat haters get tossed in the cooler.

Statistically,http://media.spokesman.com/photos/2010/10/13/mug-stevecrump.jpg a Republican is far more likely to be a dog owner than a Democrat. As a political independent, I take strong exception. None of my dogs — and I have three — has ever voted for a Republican. I know because Ichecked their paw prints. Yet according to the BBC, 33 percent of American dog owners identify themselves as Republican, whereas only 28 percent of cat owners lean to the right. This is a slander and canard, related to the fact that cat owners are perceived as being smarter than dog owners/Steve Crump, Twin Falls Times-News. More here.

Question: Does this finding fit your situation? Are you a Republican who owns a dog? Or A Democrat who owns a cat? Who does your pet support in the 1st Congressional District race?

 Middle management is essentially the art of watching other people work. Which makes it the ideal job for a cat. My cat, for example. Umbra is her name, and she has an endless fascination with the toil of others (so much so that we’ve dubbed her Foreman Cat and toyed with the idea of getting her a clipboard and a hardhat). Pulling weeds? Umbra’s got her nose right in the middle of your work. Cleaning out the gutters? She sits on the roof, observing. Giving the dog a bath? Shoot, she practically sits on the dog. And being a cat, Umbra never, ever confuses management with work/Steve Crump, Twin Falls Times-News. More here. (SR file photo for illustrative purposes: “Tulip Cats” is one of Lynnette Lawrence’s favirote cat drawings she had done.) 

Question: Could a cat do a better job of middle management than your current boss?