LMAO!!! hahahahahahaha…hey, wait…don’t give these people any ideas, ok?
There’s a very simple adage in regards to this problem:
Dogs good, cats bad.
Happily a dog person since the late 1970’s…
Larry Borgia: I’m going to have to disagree with your claim that the dominant cats groom the submissive ones… In my mom’s household, the dominant mammal (a cat, of course) is routinely groomed by the one lowest on the kitty totem pole-- If there’s any doubt as to the dominance, just watch what happens when Origami tries to eat from Spunky’s dish. Spunky (the dominant one) seems to regard it as a service which she deserves as top cat. On the other paw, she also has a defect in her rear legs which makes it harder for her to groom herself… Maybe she just tolerates Origami grooming her because she knows that, regardless of the symbolism, Origami doesn’t pose any real threat to her.
The paranoia answer is clear the correct one. Now that I know they are doing it, I realize that people ARE staring at me, but when I turn, they LOOK AWAY SUDDENLY!
Cats started this. They stare at me like they are carnivorous and I am a tub of meat. The faces in magazines stare at me as well. And the voices! YES! I WILL DO WHAT THE VOICES TELL ME TO DO!
Chronos,
According to the book I read (Keeping Cats by Muller) the dominant cat will pin the submissive cat and then groom it. Again I have not witnessed this personally, so I can’t vouch for this, but the book included a picture, with the pinned cat looking rather vexed.
Also this was a German book featuring (presumably) German cats. Maybe Cats do things differently over there. 
OK, I can see how pinning would be a gesture of dominance… When Origami grooms Spunky, she sort of puts a paw or two on to hold her head steady, but from all I can tell, Spunky would be able to get free easily, if she so desired, so that’s probably not a pin.
Larry, my best friend’s cat will do this when her kittens (now about 9 weeks old) get a little too rambunctious with biting her tail & pouncing on her - she just whips around, gets the offending kitten under her front paws and starts licking them vigorously until the squeaks of protest stop. So it happens on this side of the pond, too.
OK, so when my cat starts licking me (usually my hands, face, or hair) is he being nice and trying to groom/pet me, or is he trying to make me think he’s the boss?
Could be the cat likes the salt on your skin, but my guess is that he wants to mark you, and also make you smell right, according to the cat.
Smell is important, that is why when introducing a new kitty, you take a towel and rub it all over the current cat and use the towel to rub down the newcomer. Cat recognises smell and is less aggressive.