Tuesday, November 30, 2010
My Boyfriend's Back
My boyfriend's back.
Oh yes he is, and I'm so happy.
Let me tell you about him:
He's humble, even self-deprecating, yet ambitious, with a professional goal in the medical field, even though the odds seem stacked against him.
He has successfully emancipated himself from both his mother and his boring job and often expresses how much he cherishes his independence. He's a maverick.
He can stand up for himself with high-powered CEO types and rub elbows right along with the common folk in factories.
He can sing, even writes his own tunes when the moment is right, so in addition to being focused professionally, he has a spontaneous, artsy side, as well.
His clothing choices reflect his unique personality; he is no slave to fashion trends. His hair is neat and very stylized. I think Clinton Kelly would approve.
He's not very tall, but that doesn't matter to me. I do care about good teeth, and so does he. I'm talking perfect dental hygiene.
He is the friend of those who are marginalized and misunderstood.
And he's kind to animals. {Dreamy sigh.}
Some people might not appreciate my attraction to his soft-spokeness, his gentile mannerisms, but I've had my fill of the Yukon Corneliuses of this world--so, in the words of The Angels (1963) It's Christmastime and, "Hey la, Hey la, My Boyfriend's Back."
Oh Hermey. I've missed you so.
Oh yes he is, and I'm so happy.
Let me tell you about him:
He's humble, even self-deprecating, yet ambitious, with a professional goal in the medical field, even though the odds seem stacked against him.
He has successfully emancipated himself from both his mother and his boring job and often expresses how much he cherishes his independence. He's a maverick.
He can stand up for himself with high-powered CEO types and rub elbows right along with the common folk in factories.
He can sing, even writes his own tunes when the moment is right, so in addition to being focused professionally, he has a spontaneous, artsy side, as well.
His clothing choices reflect his unique personality; he is no slave to fashion trends. His hair is neat and very stylized. I think Clinton Kelly would approve.
He's not very tall, but that doesn't matter to me. I do care about good teeth, and so does he. I'm talking perfect dental hygiene.
He is the friend of those who are marginalized and misunderstood.
And he's kind to animals. {Dreamy sigh.}
Some people might not appreciate my attraction to his soft-spokeness, his gentile mannerisms, but I've had my fill of the Yukon Corneliuses of this world--so, in the words of The Angels (1963) It's Christmastime and, "Hey la, Hey la, My Boyfriend's Back."
Oh Hermey. I've missed you so.
Tuesday Blues
So, the Cyber Monday sale has brought me the Tuesday Blues. I make & make stuff, & slash prices & yet the sales are very slim. And yet, I'll prolly sell more stuff in a few days---when things are regular price.
It always happens that way. Funny...
So, I decided to extend the sale one day longer. Today (Tuesday) is the last day of the sale.
Vintage Button Rings are $7.00!
Bottle Cap Badges are $6.30!
Bug Catcher/Treasure Keeper Necklaces are $5.60!
(30% off EVERYTHING in the store!)
Enter this code upon checking out to redeem your discount:
CM30off
Click HERE to start shopping.
Enter this code upon checking out to redeem your discount:
CM30off
Click HERE to start shopping.
The shop will only be opened thru December 12th.
(I won't reopon until January 13th!)
♥
2010 Advent Activities for Children from loyolapress.com
Children Advent Calendar- Many people like to use a special calendar to help them mark the days until Christmas. You can use this Web calendar to remind you to do something each day to share the meaning of the season. Hover your mouse over the picture on each day of Advent to find an idea to help you prepare for Jesus' birthday. (Printable version available.)
Advent Bingo- In the Advent Bingo center, participants will be able to recall their liturgical experiences of Advent and deepen their understanding of the Church's celebration of this season. The focus of this center is Advent practices and symbols found in Catholic liturgy.
Advent Banner- Hang this banner in the room so that the children can be reminded of their prayers, letting Jesus know that he is welcome in their hearts.
Advent Bookmark- To remember a verse in Isaiah that helps us celebrate Advent.
MCSO Brutality and Sunbelt Justice: getting what we "deserve"?
Maricopa County Sheriff's Office detention officer Kevin Gerster, seen in video in the previous post assaulting already-restrained mentally ill prisoners made his $36,000 bond and is out of jail already.
Bet he didn't get cuffed, shackled, bagged and beaten by our beloved defenders of public trust and safety during his brief stay. His jaw probably wasn't broken by some thug with a badge while he was in 4-point restraints in the jail's psychiatric wing. I doubt anyone will be sending an armed intruder to his home to slice up him and his loved ones, either. He's actually pretty fortunate that most of us don't endorse his brand of "justice", and that the cyber-bullies who applauded him following the news articles about his crimes are all just as cowardly as he is.
Gerster's next court appearance is (Rescheduled for an unknown time and place - check for court records on both him and Keesee here, once they're posted, or call the criminal court office at 602-506-8575 if you don't find anything). Anyone who cares about real justice should be there to make sure that not only the cops, but also the courts and prosecutors are held accountable, too.
No word yet on when his colleague, officer Alan Keesee, will be arrested and arraigned. It does not appear as if any of the officers who witnessed the assaults and did nothing (or even those who helped restrain the victims) are being charged. Nor is any of the MCSO leadership, of course.
During his press conference about Gerster's arrest Arpaio seems to justify that conduct by stating "being a detention officer is a difficult job". The Lower Buckeye Jail's chief of custody, Jerry Sheridan, goes on to attribute the assault of the most recent victim to him "mouthing off". I don't believe there's ever a case in which violence is justified by mere insult - especially coming from a mentally ill person already bound in chains - but for some reason law enforcement officers seem particularly inclined to think it does.
The Maricopa County Sheriff Office's history of human rights' abuses suggests that Officer Gerster's disposition to repeatedly assault helpless people was fostered by his boss and the workplace culture Arpaio has cultivated there. Savagery and criminal misconduct by law enforcement agents of the MCSO is a well-established pattern and practice - one which this state's deluded electorate sadly seems to embrace.
For those of you who missed it, the PHX New Times did a thorough investigation in 2007 of how the MCSO treats prisoners: Inhumanity Has a Price. Read it and weep. I did. As of the time that article was written, the Maricopa County jails - under Arpaio - had already killed 11 prisoners in as many years as a direct result of violating their constitutional rights. For all you right-to-lifers who think the jails just house rapists and murderers who "deserve whatever they get": the death toll included the unborn child of a woman who hadn't even been convicted of anything yet.
By contrast, according to the MCSO website page dedicated to their fallen officers, "In the Line of Duty", since 1994 two officers died in car accidents and one died by gunshot. To hear the rhetoric that keeps justifying the massive build up of weaponry, the round-ups of "criminal aliens", and the brutality they display towards all those dangerous characters they throw in the local lock-up, you'd think the deputies were being slaughtered out there. According to the Goldwater Institute, Arpaio and his crew aren't even going after the real bad guys, though. It's actually the rest of the public that's in danger of getting killed by the MCSO.
Sunbelt Justice in the title of this post, by the way, is a reference to a very worthwhile read about crime and punishment in Arizona. Pick it up before the next legislative session, and recommend it to State Senator Ron Gould, the new chair of the AZ Senate Judiciary Committee. He has a lot to learn.
Again, if you care at all about the abuses of power occurring here, show up for Kevin Gerster's next hearing, stay tuned for Alan Keesee's, and show the rest of this community that at least some of us won't stand for it.
Bet he didn't get cuffed, shackled, bagged and beaten by our beloved defenders of public trust and safety during his brief stay. His jaw probably wasn't broken by some thug with a badge while he was in 4-point restraints in the jail's psychiatric wing. I doubt anyone will be sending an armed intruder to his home to slice up him and his loved ones, either. He's actually pretty fortunate that most of us don't endorse his brand of "justice", and that the cyber-bullies who applauded him following the news articles about his crimes are all just as cowardly as he is.
Gerster's next court appearance is (Rescheduled for an unknown time and place - check for court records on both him and Keesee here, once they're posted, or call the criminal court office at 602-506-8575 if you don't find anything). Anyone who cares about real justice should be there to make sure that not only the cops, but also the courts and prosecutors are held accountable, too.
No word yet on when his colleague, officer Alan Keesee, will be arrested and arraigned. It does not appear as if any of the officers who witnessed the assaults and did nothing (or even those who helped restrain the victims) are being charged. Nor is any of the MCSO leadership, of course.
During his press conference about Gerster's arrest Arpaio seems to justify that conduct by stating "being a detention officer is a difficult job". The Lower Buckeye Jail's chief of custody, Jerry Sheridan, goes on to attribute the assault of the most recent victim to him "mouthing off". I don't believe there's ever a case in which violence is justified by mere insult - especially coming from a mentally ill person already bound in chains - but for some reason law enforcement officers seem particularly inclined to think it does.
The Maricopa County Sheriff Office's history of human rights' abuses suggests that Officer Gerster's disposition to repeatedly assault helpless people was fostered by his boss and the workplace culture Arpaio has cultivated there. Savagery and criminal misconduct by law enforcement agents of the MCSO is a well-established pattern and practice - one which this state's deluded electorate sadly seems to embrace.
For those of you who missed it, the PHX New Times did a thorough investigation in 2007 of how the MCSO treats prisoners: Inhumanity Has a Price. Read it and weep. I did. As of the time that article was written, the Maricopa County jails - under Arpaio - had already killed 11 prisoners in as many years as a direct result of violating their constitutional rights. For all you right-to-lifers who think the jails just house rapists and murderers who "deserve whatever they get": the death toll included the unborn child of a woman who hadn't even been convicted of anything yet.
By contrast, according to the MCSO website page dedicated to their fallen officers, "In the Line of Duty", since 1994 two officers died in car accidents and one died by gunshot. To hear the rhetoric that keeps justifying the massive build up of weaponry, the round-ups of "criminal aliens", and the brutality they display towards all those dangerous characters they throw in the local lock-up, you'd think the deputies were being slaughtered out there. According to the Goldwater Institute, Arpaio and his crew aren't even going after the real bad guys, though. It's actually the rest of the public that's in danger of getting killed by the MCSO.
Sunbelt Justice in the title of this post, by the way, is a reference to a very worthwhile read about crime and punishment in Arizona. Pick it up before the next legislative session, and recommend it to State Senator Ron Gould, the new chair of the AZ Senate Judiciary Committee. He has a lot to learn.
Again, if you care at all about the abuses of power occurring here, show up for Kevin Gerster's next hearing, stay tuned for Alan Keesee's, and show the rest of this community that at least some of us won't stand for it.
FieldLeaks....
Sorry, nothing to leak. Although I know plenty. Still, my profession and actual line of work does not allow me to reveal things that I have heard or know about my clients or people I come in contact with while working my 9-5. There are things that I will take to my grave that could have made me a wealthy man while I was alive. (What are they paying for great movie scripts these days?)
Anyway, A-merry-ca is being gripped by Wikimania, all because some state department employee (or employees) decided to do like Diana Ross and sing to Julian Assange .(To some, the worst Australian since....well, that other bad Australian, Uncle Rupert.) Now his O ness and his peeps are threatening lawsuits and criminal action because of the nature of some of the leaks. I guess it's not cool to embarrass diplomats. Apparently they talk about each other in very unflattering ways, and it's going to make it that much harder to solve the world's problems when they meet face to face.
Honestly, I have yet to make up my mind about this whole Wiki Leaks thing. I want an open government, and I want hard nosed aggressive journalist doing their job, but I also understand the issue of national security; as well as the need to keep certain things from the public. I am just not sure where we are with these latest leaks.
Of course, right on cue with their nuttiness; here comes the wingnuts:
"Long Island Congressman Peter King took his condemnation even further and urged that WikiLeaks be declared a “foreign terrorist organization,” putting it in the same arena as al-Qaida. The Republican also wants WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange prosecuted under the Espionage Act. “They are engaged in terrorist activity. What they’re doing is clearly aiding and abetting terrorist groups,” King, the incoming chair of the House Homeland Security Committee, told MyFox New York."
They always make it so easy for me to choose sides these wingnuts. (Did O'Reilly really call for Assange's execution? Yes, I think he did.)
Oh wait, and let's not forget to politicize this latest scandal. We can never let the chance to take a shot at his O ness go to waste:
"Sarah Palin blasted out a dispatch to her Facebook supporters Monday, taking aim at the Obama administration's handling of the latest WikiLeaks document drop and criticizing the White House's "incompetent handling of this whole fiasco." The former Alaska governor also seemingly encouraged the hunting of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange with "the same urgency we pursue al Qaeda and Taliban leaders."
In her Facebook post, Palin questions the timing of Obama's recent steps to try to patch intelligence holes that have allowed repeated leaks of classified information:
The White House has now issued orders to federal departments and agencies asking them to take immediate steps to ensure that no more leaks like this happen again. It's of course important that we do all we can to prevent similar massive document leaks in the future. But why did the White House not publish these orders after the first leak back in July? What explains this strange lack of urgency on their part?
The White House has now issued orders to federal departments and agencies asking them to take immediate steps to ensure that no more leaks like this happen again. It's of course important that we do all we can to prevent similar massive document leaks in the future. But why did the White House not publish these orders after the first leak back in July? What explains this strange lack of urgency on their part?
Palin also takes a shot at the failure to capture or stop Assange, an ineffectiveness that she appears to characterize as a lack of effort or caring by the Obama administration:"
Yes, we must get our priorities right. We have yet to capture OBL, but we must capture the founder of WikiLeaks.
On Sneezing
You know it's bad when you sneeze so much that you blow the Post-It notes off of things they're attached to, like your monitor, phone, folders and framed pics. Come think of it, you know it's bad when you have Post-It notes stuck to every surface on your desk, flat or bumpy, because you can't remember anything. Anyway, I'm on a roll. A sneezing jag, if you will.
My boss always has a certain number of sneezes he must get out of his system before his sneeze-a-thons end. I think it's four, and they're Texan sneezes, so look out.
Still, I don't think he has blown Post-Its around like a snowstorm.
Once, when I was in middle school band, I sneezed numerous times, too ridiculously many to count. The band director stared at me as if to say, "Finished?" But I just kept on, not even on tempo. Finally, with that swoopy conductor thing that band directors do, he silenced the band and sat in feigned awe, watching me sneeze. Of course, everyone laughed. Then I excused myself to his office, where I set all of his sheet music on fire and laughed while it burned.
Just kidding. I finished the jag.
I wonder if my sneezes blew any of his papers around on his desk?
That is all for today. For now.
Here's lookin A-choo, kid.
A Nod to Nature
I'm not one to have a Christmas tree in every room of my house, but a recent find at a thrift store, and an earlier find/gift for my hunter husband prompted some "thinking" while pulling out the seasonal decor this past week. You know what happens when one gets to thinking, don't you?
I've had a small rustic/primitive tree for several years....sometimes I use it, sometimes I don't.
I threw in an old broken feather wreath to help fill the crate.
Since hubs was out hunting (muzzleloader season) I snuck out to his stash of antlers and grabbed a few for the tree. Can you see 'em?
Throw in a couple of pinecone ornaments & berry sprigs.....
Add some vintage postcard looking ornaments and some faux fowl feathers (say that three times fast after a round of egg nog!)
And here's the tree, with a nod to nature and the G.W.H!
Oops! Yes, that is an animal hide on the chair above....it's hiding a rip in the chair seat. It is good for something!!
I've had a small rustic/primitive tree for several years....sometimes I use it, sometimes I don't.
Earlier this summer, while visiting a local junker/picker/seller I found this wooden crate with metal reinforced sides. Both ends say "Bowman" and have some numbers on them. Since my husband is an avid bow hunter (perhaps you've heard me refer to him as the Great White Hunter?) I thought this would be something right up his alley. Just so happens my little primitive tree fits quite nicely inside.
I threw in an old broken feather wreath to help fill the crate.
Since hubs was out hunting (muzzleloader season) I snuck out to his stash of antlers and grabbed a few for the tree. Can you see 'em?
Throw in a couple of pinecone ornaments & berry sprigs.....
Add some vintage postcard looking ornaments and some faux fowl feathers (say that three times fast after a round of egg nog!)
And here's the tree, with a nod to nature and the G.W.H!
Oh yeah, the thrift store find....almost forgot to show you! You've seen lots of sweater-turned-pillow transformations....here's mine! The colors were perfect for the den (a.k.a. "dead animal room"). It's the only room in the house where he's allowed to hang his...well, dead animals. Not to worry....I won't be showing you any pics of the critters.....don't want to creep anyone out!
Oops! Yes, that is an animal hide on the chair above....it's hiding a rip in the chair seat. It is good for something!!
Monday, November 29, 2010
Maricopa County deputies brutalize prisoner.
Sheriff Joe's finest, doing what they do best to help mentally ill prisoners in the MCSO's Lower Buckeye Jail. The shocker is that other cops reported this, and two deputies have been charged with assault.
Imagine how many others the MCSO has brutalized in Sheriff Joe's jail that no one ever hears about - especially when it comes to the mentally disabled. By the time they get back into court (after nine months of being berated, beaten and "restored to competency") they plead guilty to whatever they've been charged with just to escape the kind of mental health "care" - even if it means years in prison for something they didn't do or weren't competent enough to be culpable. I see it happen far too often. That's coercive plea bargaining and the ultimate subversion of justice.
Unfortunately, according to the Arizona Constitution, the victim here doesn't even have the rights of other victims (which can include "entities" like neighborhood associations, corporations, etc.) because he's "in custody for an offense" (recently reaffirmed by the AZ Court of Appeals in this decision; which I was tipped off to by Eric Manch's blog). Likewise, if he was killed in this assault, his family wouldn't have the legal standing of other victims, either. It's no wonder cops here feel so free to violate their prisoners. That would seem to imply that we become less than human once a cop arrests us - whether he's the real criminal or not.
Whatever happened to the state's duty to protect "vulnerable adults"?
Shame on all the legislators, the state's prosecutors, and the victims' rights groups that endorsed that provision (and the voters, since it was put there by referendum). Frankly, I think curtailing prisoners' rights when they're victimized encourages this kind of behavior, and the state of Arizona should be sued by every victim of state violence for not extending equal protection to all persons, whether or not the state has them in custody. The AZ Constitution doesn't even differentiate between pre-trial detainees and the convicted when depriving those "in custody" of their constitutional rights as victims, so it treats the guilty and those presumed to be innocent (and too poor to post bail) the same.
More another time - I'm too disgusted and enraged. From the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office to the Phoenix PD to the AZ Department of Corrections, there are way too many violent criminals on the loose here with badges and guns and keys. I hope our new county prosecutor and state Attorney General have the ethical foundation and guts to nail them all.
I guess we'll see...
Imagine how many others the MCSO has brutalized in Sheriff Joe's jail that no one ever hears about - especially when it comes to the mentally disabled. By the time they get back into court (after nine months of being berated, beaten and "restored to competency") they plead guilty to whatever they've been charged with just to escape the kind of mental health "care" - even if it means years in prison for something they didn't do or weren't competent enough to be culpable. I see it happen far too often. That's coercive plea bargaining and the ultimate subversion of justice.
Unfortunately, according to the Arizona Constitution, the victim here doesn't even have the rights of other victims (which can include "entities" like neighborhood associations, corporations, etc.) because he's "in custody for an offense" (recently reaffirmed by the AZ Court of Appeals in this decision; which I was tipped off to by Eric Manch's blog). Likewise, if he was killed in this assault, his family wouldn't have the legal standing of other victims, either. It's no wonder cops here feel so free to violate their prisoners. That would seem to imply that we become less than human once a cop arrests us - whether he's the real criminal or not.
Whatever happened to the state's duty to protect "vulnerable adults"?
Shame on all the legislators, the state's prosecutors, and the victims' rights groups that endorsed that provision (and the voters, since it was put there by referendum). Frankly, I think curtailing prisoners' rights when they're victimized encourages this kind of behavior, and the state of Arizona should be sued by every victim of state violence for not extending equal protection to all persons, whether or not the state has them in custody. The AZ Constitution doesn't even differentiate between pre-trial detainees and the convicted when depriving those "in custody" of their constitutional rights as victims, so it treats the guilty and those presumed to be innocent (and too poor to post bail) the same.
More another time - I'm too disgusted and enraged. From the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office to the Phoenix PD to the AZ Department of Corrections, there are way too many violent criminals on the loose here with badges and guns and keys. I hope our new county prosecutor and state Attorney General have the ethical foundation and guts to nail them all.
I guess we'll see...
This kind of sickness spreads from the top down.
Monday Matticchio – Lady Jane and the elephant
Many thanks for all the positive feedback on Sebastiano's book!
Here is another lovely new project I wanted to share: this etching is one of two
Their creations are poetic, beautiful and incredibly affordable!
Find here how you can get them.
Charity Wings
My blog/Etsy friend, Laura, of katydiddy's, writes a weekly column for the Charity Wings newsletter.
Charity Wings is a non-profit corporation based out of California that helps raise awareness and funds for other charities around the world through creativity based events. Their events and efforts have helped raise over $317,000 for the American Heart Association, Boys & Girls Clubs, the Unforgettables, the Wyland Foundation, Cancer Coping Center, Surfrider Foundation, Komen For the Cure, and many more since its inception in 2006.
Charity Wings even has an Etsy shop, a resource where artists can offer their handmade creations for the benefit of a featured charity & to help with the cost of running their unique organization.
Check out their website HERE & be inspired to give...
♥
Week in Review: November 22-28
Mostly my week was filled with happy times--& now warm memories--over Thanksgiving holiday.
And this weekend the pink Christmas tree went up. I surprised myself this year---by completely stepping away from the task of decorating & letting the girls attack the tree. I DID put the garland up at the very end. I know, that's backwards as far as the 1-2-3 Steps of tree decor go, but I was still crafting away & the girls REALLY wanted to decorate. Like, NOW! So, I just let them go for it. I'm not taking out many more decorations this year. Just the tree, & our stockings. Oh, & my favorite little s'more night-light. We are going to be leaving for a road trip to Washington on December 17th & my excuse is that: it's so much work to put it all up if we're only going to enjoy it for such a little time. That prolly just translates to: lazy. But I'm OK with that. Not that we even have many more holiday decorations besides that anyway. Just a small hodge podge of items really.
I do love Christmas. And I'll really love it this year with my family!
I'll also be meeting my biological father for the first time. And a sister or two & a couple brothers. And who knows who else will be there! I'm getting so nervous...
This week it's all about crafting, & holiday shopping & writing a Christmas letter, & shipping orders & dreaming about ways to make my favorite holiday even better...
Click HERE for a photo play-by-play.
♥
Time for a Break
There's nothing bad going on, Joe and I are both well (except for my usual lingering cough), and the family is great.
But looking at the lists and at the calendar for the next few weeks, it is obvious that there is way too much on both the lists and the calendar.
I always feel resentful when I look at the calendar and discover that something I'd looked forward to with delight has turned into something else that I have to do. I surely don't want that to happen with blogging.
So I'm going to take a break for a week. Or two. Or three. We'll see. I just know that right now I'm on the verge of becoming a member of the Overextenders Society, where membership is by conscription and resignations are not accepted. I'll return when things settle down.
Meanwhile, Keep Calm. And Quilt On.
Some folks aren't in the holiday spirit.
The holidays are winding down and I am getting ready to head back to the plantation. I am looking forward to my TSA experience tomorrow. (You folks have been a joy)
I am trying to relax and enjoy the down time but I can't. -Mrs. Field has this thing all figured out. She spends her days reading that damn LilKim or Kindle or whatever the hell they call those things and looking for shopping deals for the holidays. Me, not so much.
I am still busy watching and reading the news, and every cable news show, while I lament over the fate of A-merry-ca.
Some Somalian kid decides to live out his Osama bin Laden fantasy up in the great Northwest, and A-merry-cans, who are sick and tired of his kind; decide to torch his Mosque. Nice. A word to my Muslim friends up in Portland: you might want to consider a change of scenery.
And then there is the story coming out of Michigan. Three little boys missing and their daddy tried to hang himself. But wait, it gets better-or worse:
"Authorities said John Skelton claimed that he gave the boys to a female friend before he attempted suicide, but officers haven't been able to confirm whether the woman exists.
The boys were last seen Thursday and reported missing the next day by their mother, Tanya Skelton, Weeks said. A family friend said the boys were with their father as part of court-ordered visitation and their parents were going through a divorce. " [Article]
The boys were last seen Thursday and reported missing the next day by their mother, Tanya Skelton, Weeks said. A family friend said the boys were with their father as part of court-ordered visitation and their parents were going through a divorce. " [Article]
Sadly, I am guessing that this woman only exists in the sick mind of this father. As someone who is somewhat familiar with family law and how the family court system works, I find this story to have a familiar ring to it. The little man in my head is telling me that there is going to be a very upset officer of the court who wrote that visitation and custody order for the Skeltons.
Finally, I swear some of you Negroes take this religion thing to the extreme. Did this Negro really blame god for dropping a crucial pass on Sunday?
"New York–It wasn’t his own hands or the Pittsburgh secondary Sunday that foiled Buffalo Bills wide receiver Steve Johnson from hauling in what should have been the game-winning TD catch in the end zone.
It was God.
“I PRAISE YOU 24/7!!!!!!” the 24-year-old tweeted from his iPad at around 5:15 Sunday after the Steelers’ 19-16 overtime victory. “AND THIS HOW YOU DO ME!!!!! YOU EXPECT ME TO LEARN FROM THIS??? HOW???!!! ILL NEVER FORGET THIS!! EVER!!! THX THO…”
Johnson had a perfect pass in his hands that would have given his team an overtime victory over the heavily favored Steelers.
It was God.
“I PRAISE YOU 24/7!!!!!!” the 24-year-old tweeted from his iPad at around 5:15 Sunday after the Steelers’ 19-16 overtime victory. “AND THIS HOW YOU DO ME!!!!! YOU EXPECT ME TO LEARN FROM THIS??? HOW???!!! ILL NEVER FORGET THIS!! EVER!!! THX THO…”
Johnson had a perfect pass in his hands that would have given his team an overtime victory over the heavily favored Steelers.
Instead of walking off the field the hero, however, he dropped it."
Yes, you dropped it. But don't blame god, he put you in the position to make the catch.
Still, you play for the Bills, so you might want to blame him for that.
I'm out.
Cyber Monday oh I would love to get a sale
This is suppose to be the day that cyber sales go up. I would really love to be in the mix of that. So I am going to show off a couple of prettys that would make great Christmas gifts.
First is this beautiful hand crafted necklace made in the mountains of NC. This was a gift to me from my mil. She told me that if I wanted I could sell it considering it really isn't my style but a new pocketbook always is. This Necklace was purchased for $230.00 and is still in the box, never worn. Today I will sell it for 100.00 and free shipping.
And don't forget todays Twitter tree hosted by http://christiecottage.blogspot.com/
And don't forget todays Twitter tree hosted by http://christiecottage.blogspot.com/
CSN Giveaway!!
CSN stores recently contacted me about doing another review for them. I chose this item to review because my 8 year old daughter was recently gifted with an American Girl doll for her birthday this year. I wanted to surprise her with some doll furniture, but didn't want to spend the American Girl Doll prices. CSN has many items available for the 18" doll sizes!
The doll bed came in the mail a couple weeks ago. Hubby & I sat down to put it together. I was dreading the whole process---but it was a snap!! A couple of the pieces (the sides of the armoire) were mixed up as far as the letter codes in the instructions, but once we got past that, the doll bed went up in a jiffy.
At the moment, the bunk bed/armoire combo is hidden in the basement, awaiting Christmas surprises.
I am CERTAIN Zoey will love it!
I am impressed with the quality of the bed. Nice size, sturdy. I plan on spiffing it up with some accent pillows...a little blanket...oh, you know how we crafty-types can get sometimes!
How would you like a chance to win a $35.00 gift certificate to CSN stores??
Well, leave a comment then!
The gift certificate will expire December 31, 2010, so let's do this quick!
I'll choose one winner Friday, December 3rd at 4pm (MST)
U.S. & Canadian residents only.
(Photo courtesy of CSN stores)
♥
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Kyl and McCain: Deliver the DREAM.
Urgent Action Alert!
US Senate to vote on the DREAM Act this week!
Photo by DreamActivist- Ruben Hernandez
In September, the Senate lacked only a few votes to pass the DREAM Act. Senator Harry Reid has promised to bring this legislation to the Senate floor again in the week after Thanksgiving recess, and we need your emails and phone calls to win this first step toward immigration reform!
Click Here to Send a Message to Your Senators!
Even though the majority of the public supports the DREAM Act, opponents are flooding Senators’ phone lines and email inboxes. This may be one of our only chances to make something good happen on immigration in Congress this year, and just seconds of your time could change the lives of over one million young people.
Please Take 30 Seconds and Send a Message to Your Senators Telling Them to SUPPORT the DREAM ACT!
After you've emailed, call your Senators and ask them to support the DREAM Act:
English: 866-996-5161
Spanish: 866-961-4293
Call Republican Senators who are on the fence:
Spanish: 866-956-3902
If you live in Arizona, you can also call Senators John McCain and Jon Kyl at these local offices:
Senator McCain
Phoenix: (602) 952-2410
Prescott: (928) 445-0833
Tempe: (480) 897-6289
Tucson: (520) 670-6334
Senator Kyl
Phoenix: (602) 840-1891
Tucson : (520) 575-8633
When you're done, be sure to forward this email to all of your contacts! Thank you for taking action!
Turkey Day Road Trip
1000 tiny puzzle pieces
+ 1300 shotgun shells
+ 48 rotten eggs
+ 60 tubed croissants
+ 18 desserts
+ 1 pitchfork
+ 3 cooked turkeys
+1 irritated rooster
+1 lovely nap
+ 2 giant pots of homemade soup
+ 1 dead baby bird
+ 2 cows with expiration dates
+7 televised football games (I could be exaggerating there)
+6 slices of pumpkin pie (I may or may not be exaggerating there)
+800 miles of road trip
+ 7 giddy children
+27 adults
+ 1 happy farm
=
my Thanksgiving holiday
To view my complete Thanksgiving 2010 photo set, click HERE.
Thank you Nancy & Carl & Mark & Nichole for welcoming us into your home.
How much fun my family & I had being a part of your family for a few days!!
♥
Month of Gratitude: Day 27, 28
Day 27:
I am grateful for...laughter.
Zoey (age 8) is grateful for...the Christmas tree.
Pazely (age 6) is grateful for...the Christmas tree.
(We put up the Christmas tree. Can you tell?? And the girls are really, really happy about that. Can you tell that too??)
Day 28:
Zoey (age 8) is grateful for...the Christmas ornaments. Without them, "the tree would be naked!"
I am grateful for...my Etsy shop. Really, it is a chance for me to do what I love. An excuse to create. And it brings in a few dollars so I can spoil my girls.
Pazely (age 6) is grateful for...her toothbrush.
♥
Not so "Fresh Air".
Damn it! My birds just caught a beat down in Chi town. Lovie had his boys ready to play.
We are still tied for first so Iwon't trip.
So anyway, some folks are calling out NPR's Terry Gross and drawing Juan Williams comparisons after her recent Jay Z interview. I will give you a cut and paste job as an example:
"Let’s begin with the premise that no people, culture, religious, racial or ethnic group is by definition immoral. Not acknowledging this, at the core, is the problem with Juan Williams’ gross generalization about Muslims that recently got him fired from National Public Radio (NPR). But if NPR’s “Fresh Air” interview last week with the rapper Jay-Z about his new book Decoded is any indication, it’s a message still lost on Terry Gross.
To be sure, Juan Williams revealed his bias by openly expressing his personal opinion. Terry Gross didn’t do that. Instead the bias is more subtle and insidious and lurks in the line of questioning.
While not as shocking as the obvious blanket condemnation Juan Williams advanced, the Terry Gross/ Jay-Z interview is even more problematic because it illuminates a tendency pervasive in today’s news media. This is a moment in which Blacks can be embraced and promoted at the same time that their humanity is dismantled—all in a 30-second sound bite.
Throughout her interview with Jay-Z, Gross kept returning the discussion to those places that reinforce the idea of Black culture as immoral and Black people as corrupt and/or corruptible. Such anti-Black arguments that once lived primarily in conservative public policy debates have now worked their way into national culture (especially in film, television, news media and politics) to the degree that these views are now widely accepted as the norm.
In short, racial disparities in education, unemployment, criminal justice, wealth-building, and more are rooted in Black cultural failing alone. As this logic prevails, it’s impossible to gain traction on any targeted policy solutions regarding the problems disproportionately facing Blacks.
President Obama realizes this. Hence his colorblind politics, a policy approach that anti-racist activist Tim Wise documents in detail in his new book, Colorblind. However, one wonders to what extent even liberal journalists like Terry Gross realize they are collaborators.
To grasp the full extent to which Gross emboldens conservative ideas about race, one should listen to the entire 45-minute interview. For now, let this brief exchange illustrate the point,
GROSS: Your father left when you were very young. And you say that most of your friends’ fathers had left. You say, “Our fathers were gone, usually because they just bounced. But we took their old records and used them to build something fresh.” That’s really interesting that one of your things that your father leaves behind that you can use is his records.
JAY-Z: Yeah, I guess there’s a bright side to everything right?
GROSS: Yeah, well, that’s one way of looking at it.
Any great interviewer—and Gross is at the top of her game—knows the role he or she plays in the outcome. Part of the science is in framing the questions.
The advancing of conservative rhetoric about Blacks persists, whether Gross is bluntly asking Jay about crimes he committed 15 years ago (crack sales and assault), or inquiring about his mother’s parental decisions: “You ended up selling crack and helping your mother, as a single mother, support the family. Did she know that’s how you were making the money?”
What’s the takeaway message? That Jay’s mom was a single parent that made poor choices, let her teenage son sell drugs and is unprincipled because she knows the money he’s using to support the family comes from drug sales. It’s a narrative we’ve heard from the Republican Revolution of 1994 to the recent well-financed media blitz that resulted in the mid-term shellacking of the Democrats.
And Terry Gross never goes off message. In a nearly hour long interview with a self-made record executive mogul and entrepreneur worth at least half a billion, on the occasion of the publication of a book he deems a coming of age story for his generation, the most pressing questions on the table range from insight into drug dealing to why rappers grab their crotches? "[More]
In a way, I understand what my friend Bakari is saying. But isn't Jay Z the wrong subject to use to make this point? Jay Z is a rapper who made his bones glorifying his street cred from his "hard knock" beginnings. Terry Gross couldn't totally ignore who the rapper is. Still, I found myself agreeing with the author' general point about liberals and about A-merry-can journalist in general.
Terry Gross doesn't get a pass, because I know where she is coming from, and believe me, it isn't a good place.
We are still tied for first so Iwon't trip.
So anyway, some folks are calling out NPR's Terry Gross and drawing Juan Williams comparisons after her recent Jay Z interview. I will give you a cut and paste job as an example:
"Let’s begin with the premise that no people, culture, religious, racial or ethnic group is by definition immoral. Not acknowledging this, at the core, is the problem with Juan Williams’ gross generalization about Muslims that recently got him fired from National Public Radio (NPR). But if NPR’s “Fresh Air” interview last week with the rapper Jay-Z about his new book Decoded is any indication, it’s a message still lost on Terry Gross.
To be sure, Juan Williams revealed his bias by openly expressing his personal opinion. Terry Gross didn’t do that. Instead the bias is more subtle and insidious and lurks in the line of questioning.
While not as shocking as the obvious blanket condemnation Juan Williams advanced, the Terry Gross/ Jay-Z interview is even more problematic because it illuminates a tendency pervasive in today’s news media. This is a moment in which Blacks can be embraced and promoted at the same time that their humanity is dismantled—all in a 30-second sound bite.
Throughout her interview with Jay-Z, Gross kept returning the discussion to those places that reinforce the idea of Black culture as immoral and Black people as corrupt and/or corruptible. Such anti-Black arguments that once lived primarily in conservative public policy debates have now worked their way into national culture (especially in film, television, news media and politics) to the degree that these views are now widely accepted as the norm.
In short, racial disparities in education, unemployment, criminal justice, wealth-building, and more are rooted in Black cultural failing alone. As this logic prevails, it’s impossible to gain traction on any targeted policy solutions regarding the problems disproportionately facing Blacks.
President Obama realizes this. Hence his colorblind politics, a policy approach that anti-racist activist Tim Wise documents in detail in his new book, Colorblind. However, one wonders to what extent even liberal journalists like Terry Gross realize they are collaborators.
To grasp the full extent to which Gross emboldens conservative ideas about race, one should listen to the entire 45-minute interview. For now, let this brief exchange illustrate the point,
GROSS: Your father left when you were very young. And you say that most of your friends’ fathers had left. You say, “Our fathers were gone, usually because they just bounced. But we took their old records and used them to build something fresh.” That’s really interesting that one of your things that your father leaves behind that you can use is his records.
JAY-Z: Yeah, I guess there’s a bright side to everything right?
GROSS: Yeah, well, that’s one way of looking at it.
Any great interviewer—and Gross is at the top of her game—knows the role he or she plays in the outcome. Part of the science is in framing the questions.
The advancing of conservative rhetoric about Blacks persists, whether Gross is bluntly asking Jay about crimes he committed 15 years ago (crack sales and assault), or inquiring about his mother’s parental decisions: “You ended up selling crack and helping your mother, as a single mother, support the family. Did she know that’s how you were making the money?”
What’s the takeaway message? That Jay’s mom was a single parent that made poor choices, let her teenage son sell drugs and is unprincipled because she knows the money he’s using to support the family comes from drug sales. It’s a narrative we’ve heard from the Republican Revolution of 1994 to the recent well-financed media blitz that resulted in the mid-term shellacking of the Democrats.
And Terry Gross never goes off message. In a nearly hour long interview with a self-made record executive mogul and entrepreneur worth at least half a billion, on the occasion of the publication of a book he deems a coming of age story for his generation, the most pressing questions on the table range from insight into drug dealing to why rappers grab their crotches? "[More]
In a way, I understand what my friend Bakari is saying. But isn't Jay Z the wrong subject to use to make this point? Jay Z is a rapper who made his bones glorifying his street cred from his "hard knock" beginnings. Terry Gross couldn't totally ignore who the rapper is. Still, I found myself agreeing with the author' general point about liberals and about A-merry-can journalist in general.
Terry Gross doesn't get a pass, because I know where she is coming from, and believe me, it isn't a good place.
Seahorse Safari
Exquisitely delicate and otherwordly
I love the mystery of seahorse
Poster by Fulda, 1950s
4everDesign, Meeting
Cvijeta Job, illustration for Mira Boglic's Suma Od Koralja, 1962,
thanks to A Journey Round My Skull
Takahashi Haruka, 1928, thanks to bi-s-co
Diana Fayt, "Love involves...
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