"How can you do that to me when there are birds to chase, bugs to torture and romping to do"?

And cars to run you over, dumbhead.

This Homeland Security Shit (HSS) has gone a little too far. The latest newsletter we got from our township notified all cat owners that cats would not be allowed to leave their owner's property, or the cat would be seized by the newest township employees: cage-wielding cat catchers. Talk about a makeshift job if there ever was one. I wonder which of our elected leaders' grandchildren will be doing that job?

The township claims that wildlife lovers complain about cats roaming the neighborhoods and eating birds and other creatures of the night and about cats pooping in children's sandboxes. When my neighbor gets back from his vacation, he is going to be mightily pissed as he credits our dear Mable for keeping the local rabbit population out of his garden. The rabbit population here is far too high. Drivers will swerve to avoid a sweet rabbit (and you can thank that bitch Beatrix Potter for that!). Some child is going to get run over because a driver is, sooner or later, going to swerve to avoid a bunny and kill a child. Mable is not a not a tree climber and is not interested in birds; she's too old for that - too much work. But she does bring the vermin and ground rodents to us regularly. Here is a creature that enjoys the work God gave her to do and does it with pleasure and without complaint. Why am I blaming the Homeland Security Goons?

Read the Wikipedia entry on Cats in Ancient Egypt:

Cats "Felis silvestris catus" played a large role in ancient Egyptian society. Beginning as a wild, untamed species, cats were useful for keeping down vermin populations in the Egyptians' crops and harvests; through exposure to humans, the cat population became domesticated over time and learned to coexist with the human population. The people inhabiting the area which would later become unified and known as Upper and Lower Egypt had a religion centering around the worship of animals, of which the cat became one.

Originally praised for its aid to humans in controlling vermin and its ability to fight and kill snakes (such as cobras), the domesticated cat slowly became a symbol of grace and poise. The goddess Mafdet, the deification of justice and execution, was a fierce lion-headed goddess.

This vilification of any creature even remotely connected to the Middle East has got to stop. I'm pissed!