President Hillary Clinton?

It's really hard for me to figure out how I feel about Hillary running for president. She lost my heart when she didn't come out and say the Iraq war is wrong, based on lies, and let's get the hell out. It's why candidates like Obama and Edwards have my heart.

Obama says yes when asked if he did things like get high. He doesn't hide it like Bush does or stretch the truth ridiculously far like Bill who didn't inhale. He says what I want to hear about Iraq. I like Edwards for saying what I want to hear about Iraq. I like him even better because he acted like a real husband who cares about his wife when she had breast cancer, unlike Newt who ran into the arms of his intern mistress--and then condemned Bill for a blow job, when HIS wife got cancer.

But more than anything it comes down to Iraq for me. From the beginning, right after 9/11 when the bullshit began, I read what I could easily find online and immediately came to the conclusion that the reasons for the war were a crock and a case was being made that was based on flimsy heresy. Experts were ignored and discredited. "Suicides" of those who could verify this suddenly increased. It didn't take much for me to figure out Bush and Cheney were lying the country into war.

My anger at Congress is based a lot on this. If I knew, if a few days a couple hours at a time let me know the excuses for war were flimsy and stretched beyond belief, why didn't Congress who were much closer to the situation than I ever would be? Are they that stupid? Or were they that bought.

That is my problem with Hillary right now. Who owns her? She rides the centrist train as if it were the only ride in town with a promise of getting to the destination. I don't want centrist, Republican-lites. I want someone with the courage to go against the war machine. If Hillary can't even speak against it, is she strong enough for the job? And if she isn't, why should I vote for her instead of Obama or Edwards who at least make a pretense of being strong enough?

I don't want to vote for Hillary just because she is a woman, although as a woman in my 50's the time is getting shorter to see a woman president in my lifetime. I cried when Nancy Pelosi became Speaker of the House. Only someone who grew up when I did and remembered what it was like to be a subservient secretary to an incompetent boss, or have all our accomplishements prefaced with female poet, woman writer, girl geek, or have school counselors tell us we could be Nurses and Teachers and Wives while the boys were told they could be anything they wanted, can ever possibily understand how important seeing a woman become President is to me and why I cried at the words: Madame Speaker.

But I didn't come all this way to compromise my principles just to see a woman become president. I am a Pacifist first and foremost. That is my soul and that is how I will vote.

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Changing minds one t-shirt at a time. Visit Ursine Logic for more designs.

President Hillary Clinton?

Why I Don't Have Children

People sometimes ask me why I don't have children and I usually give them some smart-ass answer such as "because I can't have kittens," or something equally evasive. Why I do this is because we live in a world where I've received more hate mail over a section of my shop that is devoted to childfree people than I have over designs such as "Fuck You Mr. President." People are threatened in a weird way by those of us who choose not to breed.

And yes, it is a choice, one I made when half my graduating class was missing because they signed up for the military at 17, got sent to Vietnam, and were dead by graduation day 1969. We read their names in tribute and handed their empty diploma cases to their grieving families. At that time the military was mostly male and we young women looked around that room empty of most of the boys we grew up with and left the room as Pacifists. I swore right then, with many of my friends, that I would never provide children to be used as cannon fodder.

My other reason was over-population. I saw a world filling up too fast with too limited resources. It is far worse now. If we keep reproducing at the rate we are now, our future and those of children born in the next few years, will be a future of wars fought for limited resources such as water, food, and unpolluted land. We are already dying for oil. That should be a clue and wake-up call for those who still don't get it.

Later in life I was told a third reason to never have children: I carry the gene for Hemophilia. Any male child would have more than likely been born with this disease. And while I've heard all the arguments why someone who has this can live a long and happy life, I didn't feel I should inflict it on a child if I had the choice not to. I chose not to.

At the same time, I realize there are amazing people in the world who need to have children. They need to raise the next generation to be the amazing and enlightened beings they themselves are. The answer to this is very simple. Adopt. There are so many children all over the world who would be grateful for a safe and permanent place to sleep with parents who loved them. There are children in this country, in our own neighborhoods who have grown up in foster homes because they are not cute enough, white enough, perfect enough to be adopted. This is so wrong.

One of the worst arguments I've had with someone on myspace was with a couple people who tried to convince me there was a shortage of babies to adopt and that's why abortion was wrong. There is NO shortage of babies to adopt if you aren't looking just for cabbage patch dolls. If you really care about humanity and the planet and saving lives, then adopt a special needs child. Adopt a child who is not a baby. Adopt a foster child who longs for a real home they won't have to eventually leave. Then tell me there are no children to adopt. Before then, you are not being compassionate and caring about human life. You are being a fucking racist who only wants a dolly with blond hair and blue eyes.

After the latest round of hate mail I decided to expand the section of my child-free shop and will be adding more designs to it just because I don't like racists, I don't like people who think it's alright to tell me what to do with MY body, and who judge others for choices they make that are different. If I was like them I wouldn't have any friends with children. I wouldn't be around children. I would just live in my biased reality and call it good.

But I'm not them and I have both child-filled and child-free friends. I have friends who adopted children from other countries. I have friends who adopted crack babies. I have friends who foster children no one wants. To me these are the true heroes of the world, those who give a home to the less than perfect. That makes them perfect humans in my book.

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Changing minds one t-shirt at a time. Visit Ursine Logic for more designs.

Why I Don't Have Children

What is Bushco really up to with this Escalation crap?

Bush is either completely delusional or this is a big fat distraction to keep our eyes off his hand...which is busy trying to start shit with Iran and Syria. The scary thing is that it is probably both...he is delusional AND he wants to start shit. If you haven't called your congressional representative, now is the time to make those phone calls and demand they make Bush come to Congress before taking military action in Iran or Syria. If we've learned anything in the last few years it is that our freedoms and rights do not disappear overnight. They leak away in hidden bills, legislation passed when no one is watching, and those insidious signing statements.

The War on Terror is just another excuse to make us subservient and cowering victims of Bushco. It is a badly refurbished version of the War on Drugs, and we all now how successful that was. All it did was make criminals of recreational users. The big drug lords are richer, more powerful, and have tons and tons of merchandise now more than ever. I would not be the least bit surprised if cocaine and heroin were once again raising money for illegal wars. After all, most of the people from Iran-Contra are now in privileged Bushco positions, and we all know how that funded that one.

As much as Bush disgusts me, what absolutely terrifies me is the idea that someone like Cheney could become President if Dubya is suddenly incapacitated, or worse, if Cheney resigns and Bush appoints someone like McCain as his replacement.

You have to look at these bastards for what they truly are: obsessed with power. Do you really think if Cheney or Bush starts to go down that they don't have an odious backup in place? Now is the time to find out exactly who those backups are, and it is also time to let Congress know you are paying attention. Make those calls now and demand that Bush must go before Congress BEFORE he can "bring democracy" to any other country. After all, 2008 is not that far away. You voted them in and you can vote their asses out the same way.

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Design from Ursine Logic. Changing minds one t-shirt at a time. Visit Ursine Logic for more designs.

What is Bushco really up to with this Escalation crap?

About those Freeloaders...

One of the many things I enjoy about being a Cafepress Shopkeeper is the community that congregates on the forum boards. We talk about how good or bad our days and sales are going. We encourage and support each other. We share our births, illnesses, dysfunctional families and relationships. In the year I've been there I've learned so much and made some wonderful
friends from all over the world.

There's a section of the forum where we can chit chat about anything.During one of these conversations one of the shopkeepers described how she packed up her cheating man's stuff in black garbage bags and set them outside. Of course we had to run with this. Thus was born the Freeloader thread and the following designs.

Do check out the various shops and bookmark them for future birthdays, anniversaries and holidays. I can vouch that your money goes to support some really nice people who are raising families, growing themselves as individuals with new confidence and skills, and creating original art that you will not find anywhere else.

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Freeloader Plastic Garbage Bag Luggage

Ornament --11.99

This design is from Ursine Logic

This is what the designer has to say:

Has that unwanted house guest started to stink yet? Have they ignored all your invitations to move on? Instead of using a regular garbage bag to throw their stuff to the curb, get designer on them! Text says: For those whose welcome ends up bagged and tossed to the curb.

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The Freeloader insult shirt Ash Grey T-Shirt

This design is from The Eclectically Incorrect Shop

This is what the designer has to say: Can't get rid of that bum? Give 'em a gift and shame them out the door. Or, just quit cooking with cheese.

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FREELOADER Value T-shirt

16.99

This design is from Scott Designs

This is what the designer has to say: Heal thyself...kick the freeloader to the curb!

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Freeloader White T-Shirt

21.99

This design is from Evil Genius Comics, T-shirts and Gifts

This is what the designer has to say: Broken heart and garbage bags full of his things with caption: My valentine's day gift to my freeloading boyfriend: his stuff by the curb and the locks changed!

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Freeloader Spider Baseball Jersey


22.99

This design is from Circus Valley - Funny T-shirts

This is what the designer has to say: Spiders do help us get rid of pesty insects. Why not give your freeloading friend or relative this not so friendly hint. Text: FREELOADER at the back of shirts.

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Ash Grey T-Shirt

22.99

This design is from missingnebraska

This is what the designer has to say: From Western Nebraska, I'm having a ball at cafepress. I've learned a lot, made a little money and a bunch of great friends. Humor is my main venue, as I think we all need to laugh more

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Funny Freeloader Design Dark T-Shirt

28.99

This design is from The Hot Tees

This is what the designer has to say: Are you living with a freeloader? Have all of your hints fallen on deaf ears? Tired of finding an empty refrigerator.... a messy house.... cigarette butts ground into the carpet... a lazy freeloader lying on the couch watching "Dr. Phil"... It's time to take a stand!


Wear this tee and let them know the party's over.... Garbage can in the middle of this design with text that says, "Get The Hell Out Or I'm Packing The Freeloader Suitcases!"

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And do check out the comments because I've invited the other shopkeepers who made "Freeloader" designs to post them in the comments section if they missed out getting them in the actual post.

About those Freeloaders...

The Value Of Friendship

In the last couple weeks filled with holidays that focused on family gatherings, there's always this small bit of sorrow in me that I didn't have those joyful memories. I come from the original dysfunctional family. It was dysfunctional in so many ways that I can't even begin to describe it here. I tried to write a book about it once. I even finished it. It's in a drawer along with other memories that are worth hanging on to for the educational value: love letters from old and dead relationships, long expired student identifications and driver's licenses and other bits and pieces of officialdom that have been replaced by the digital age, photographs of a youthful me that I'm always surprised looked kind of cute. I always saw myself as painfully ugly then. How perception changes!

What isn't there are many family pictures. We never took many. Most of the time we were too poor to afford a camera for more than a few weeks at a time. It lived mostly in the local pawn shops of whatever town we were in at the time. And film cost money to buy and develop. And who wants a record of domestic violence, alcoholism and poverty as mementos anyway?

Yes, my childhood sucked and I've had to spend a lifetime climbing out of it. But then as now there was something that kept me from taking one of my father's weapons and blowing my head off with it or one of my mom's happy pills that would let me sleep forever without waking up to them screaming at each other, and that was my friends.

There is an old saying that you can't buy friendship. This is probably because you can't put a price on it. Friendship is truly priceless. When I think of my childhood, it is filled with memories of friends who sheltered me, helped me talk through my anger, fear, and tears, who held me instead of hit me, who accepted me no matter how bad a person I thought I was and who saw me as beautiful no matter how ugly I thought I was. They kept me alive.

As I grew older I moved a lot and finally found a place to stop. I chose the place because of the people who came into my life in this place. They were the people of my childhood, the open and accepting arms, hearts, and minds. From the beginning they sheltered me from the other elements in the community who saw my vulnerable neediness and looked for ways to exploit it.

Some did and they live in the memory drawer with my family pictures. But the ones who are outside that drawer taught me that love is stronger than hate, tolerance is more powerful than bigotry, and love means being there when you are needed. That is why for this holiday like many of the others, I spent it with my friends. It's going on a couple decades now and it's because of them that the wounds are finally starting to heal.

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Design and many others available at: Ursine Logic

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Changing minds one t-shirt at a time. Limited coupon offer! DES140 will get you 10.00 off your purchase. (If it expires before you get a chance to use it, you can grab the current coupon code for 5.00 off at the top of my store entrance. There's a link that will take you to the coupon code site.)

The Value Of Friendship

George Bush, Unfit To Serve

For anyone who is still deluded enough to believe that George Bush will listen to anyone but the seriously disturbed voices in his head, here is a definition of "Antisocial Personality Disorder" (formerly known as: Sociopath) from Medicine Net

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"Antisocial personality disorder:

A pervasive pattern of disregard for and violation of the rights of others and inability or unwillingness to conform to what are considered to be the norms of society.

The disorder involves a history of chronic antisocial behavior that begins before the age of 15 and continues into adulthood. The disorder is manifested by a pattern of irresponsible and antisocial behavior as indicated by academic failure, poor job performance, illegal activities, recklessness, and impulsive behavior. Symptoms may include dysphoria, an inability to tolerate boredom, feeling victimized, and a diminished capacity for intimacy.

Antisocial personality disorder, also known as psychopathic personality or sociopathic personality often brings a person into conflict with society as a consequence of a pattern of behavior that is amoral and unethical. Complications that might arise from having this disorder include: frequent imprisonment for unlawful behavior, alcoholism and drug abuse. "

Bush will NOT listen to reason when it comes to Iraq or anything else. Like most seriously disturbed people, reality is not something that has a snowball's chance of getting anywhere near his thought processes. To make it even worse, he is surrounded by those who are equally psychotic or who are manipulating his psychosis to further their own means. It is time, way past time, to seriously considering impeaching him. George Bush is unfit to serve as the leader of the United States.

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Changing minds one t-shirt at a time. Visit Ursine Logic for more designs.

George Bush, Unfit To Serve

How Many More Will Bush Let Die?

If anyone doubts the benefits of an education that includes a good dose of the Literary classics, History that isn't underwritten by corporate grants, and an emphasis on critical thinking rather than boot-licking loyalty to an ideology, all they have to do is look at the current dynamics between Bush, his father, Iraq, an enabling, vindictative mother, and the paid minions who spout ideology instead of facts because of favors bought and promised.

Shakespeare covered the whole ugly story of the Bush family many times over: the resentful and spoiled son who can never be better than dad, the manipulative mother who turned away at the affairs, the ugly political scenes, the dehumanization required in order to head something as vile and immoral as the CIA. You will find the corrupt "royal" family whose roots are sown deep in the secrets that made them rich, the passive-aggressive mother who uses the son as a weapon against the father, the ambitious social-climber who knows her family's lack of breeding will allow them only to be used by those who are more "legitimate," and the bumbling ideologue trapped in a position beyond his ability to understand, much less control.

If that isn't enough, there's always the Greeks and their classic father-son dynamics that brought down empires, the overbearing mother who lusts after her own offspring so completely that she can see no wrong, no defect in him. This is paralleled by the son who sees mom as a sort of Hellenic Goddess with the power to destroy those who cross her or who fail to acknowledge the perfection of her fruit of the loins.

Or you can move forward to Freud and other analysts who drew on the Greeks to describe the incestuous relationship (physical and/or mental) between mother and son, the battles between fathers who cannot relinquish control and sons who will do anything to take it over. You can read how these dynamics destroyed not only families, but businesses, villages, and countries.

You can really study History and learn how the Bush family has its dirty little fingers in every stinking pie for decades. Want a nice shock? Type these three words in google without the quotes: Houston Barbara Zapata. You will read about Bush the Elder's connection to the CIA and the Bay of Pigs, Iran-Contra, the assassinations of JFK, Robert Kennedy, and others. A picture will emerge of a dirty dirty corrupt and immoral family who have no concept of humanity, compassion, love, or a world outside their own greed and need for power.

And the blame for this can be put squarely on those who thought Shakespeare, Greek Literature, and Psychology were too complicated and boring to study on more than a superficial level. It is because of this mindset that we have a President who will not admit he is wrong about Iraq and who listens to the greedy minions with war profits to be made, instead of listening to the advisors forced on him by a father who long ago lost control of his son. And alongside them, you will find the cruel and trashy Barbara who will keep enabling all of them because if she stops then she has to look at herself--and that is NOT a pretty picture.

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Changing minds one t-shirt at a time. Visit Ursine Logic for more designs.

How Many More Will Bush Let Die?

Global Orgasm for World Peace Day

My main holiday of the year is the Winter Solstice. For the last couple decades I've celebrated it with an ever-growing and changing group of people. We are a mix of many communities: Pagans, Wiccans, Atheists, New Age Christians, Scientists, Teachers, Geeks, Artists, Musicians...you just can't fit us, the collective we, into a nice neat box. We are who we are and that is what has made this yearly ritual so powerful for all of us.

Sure, there are things we do, movements, chants, songs and we meet in one place once a year to herald the return of the sun. And also to acknowledge our ancient blood that understands we are Nature and we are the Sun and together we create ritual to give meaning and momentum to the change of the seasons.

I begin anew each Winter Solstice. I grow myself from the ritual seeds we plant that are wishes, dreams, hopes, aspirations, needs, desires, and our version of what we hope to find under Santa's tree. Each year the ritual evolves and changes. In that way, it mirrors the patterns of Nature who grows, evolves, changes, and becomes.

That is just part of why I am passing this information on to you about the Global Orgasm day for World Peace. I've heard about it for weeks now and the momentum seems to be picking up as I received several email letters, saw some artwork, heard some songs, and created a design in the last few days.

Since I dismiss nothing as a potential seed for world peace, I pass this on to you because it makes such sense to me who lives by the teachings of Mother Nature. I have always believed we live in a world we create each day by our actions, our dreams, our collective visions. I would not spend a moment of my life working for peace if I didn't believe my work is like a snowball that grows and grows and picks up people and their dreams and visions as it rolls along and gains momentum. This is not hard Science or Religion or Woo-Woo Spirituality. It is common sense. If we put our energy towards making something happen, it generally does as long as we do not give up.

The information describing the idea behind Global Orgasm day can be found at

Global Orgasm Day

Here is some information directly from the website:

"Donna Sheehan and Paul Reffell co-founded the anti-war
organization www.baringwitness.org">Baring Witness, a worldwide collective of peace activists who are alarmed enough to spell peace publicly with their naked bodies. The Global Orgasm is a way for even more men and women to be involved in changing the way human affairs are conducted in the world."

WHEN?

Winter Solstice Day - Friday, December 22nd


"At the time of your choosing, in the place of your choosing and with as much privacy as you choose."

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Design from Ursine Logic. Changing minds one t-shirt at a time. Visit Ursine Logic for this and more designs.

Global Orgasm for World Peace Day

Love In The Ant Farm

Imagine an ant farm, a very large, lavishly decorated ant farm. Lines of ants work steadily, hauling minute crumbs from the piles throughout the farm. Busy ants balancing bits of twig and bark as they keep perpetually busy building nothing, but always in the process of preparation should the need ever arise. Their motivated little teams take breaks in unison by the human made still pools of water, so they can rescue the ones who trip over the tiny rocks scattered here and there, when they fall into the water.


But even in the ant farm, groups separate themselves from the others. The corners of the farm are not common territory, and what boundaries there may be, are visible only to the ants, who attack in their industrious warrior teams the minute that unseen line is crossed. How these decisions to group are made, is impossible to discern, even after hours and days and weeks of watching, hoping for some clue, some insight into their little ant minds. It is possible they do not even know themselves.


Now imagine one particular group of ants in one distant corner. These ants are different than the rest, not in appearance, but in something else, the something which brought them all to the same corner. They do not just work; they work and philosophize. They work and speculate. They work and dream. And as they do so, they create in their minds that which they imagine.


But imagination, once set loose, demands a physical response, a real world thing which can be touched and known and felt. And within this restlessness, this desire to move the twig a bit off balance, or to take it perhaps on a different trail, emerges one particular ant, the most restless of them all. This ant cannot traverse the same trail day after day, always carrying the load on the same shoulder. This ant cannot be satisfied with an accidental fall into the pool; it must immerse itself day after day in the hope of tasting a different, previously untasted drop of water.


Now imagine this ant one day, realizing its life was impossible, its world too small, packing up all its dreams and expanding beyond the invisible lines of its own safe boundary. But instead of terror at encountering its first different ant, its first ant from one of the other corners, it approaches this stranger with respect and curiosity. It offers a taste of its dreams in greeting.


Since ants rarely travel alone, it meets a response not in the first ant spoken to, but to one hidden in the group, way back down the line holding the end of the stick. This ant at the end, hears something in the stranger ant's dream. It hears its own unspoken dreams. And since these particular ants who work on the fringe of the accepted group boundaries are generally fair to diverse opinions within their own group, they take the stranger ant into their own corner simply because one of their own saw something they could not yet see.


Now...imagine the whole process started from the beginning, only this time it is in another corner of the ant farm, and it will be a different ant who will go forth and seek out yet another corner to explore. Eventually these groups will interconnect and become one group because in each group will be an ant from home, a familiar ant who will bring in those who saw something it could not see.


This is what it takes for change to take place in the world.

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Design from Ursine Logic Changing hearts and minds one t-shirt at a time

Love In The Ant Farm

Remind Congress Who's the Boss

Now that a new Congress is about to take over, it's time to become a citizen activist and remind them who they work for. Like it or not, this was the most effective strategy of the GOP in gaining and keeping power for so long. They had their trained little minions calling immediately every time an issue came close to a vote. They had letter writers composing form letters from mass-distributed GOP talking points for the sheep to sign and mail off in their names. They had emails that all the sheep had to do was cut and paste and send from their own accounts. Most of the time, all the text was written and all the obedient little sheep had to do was sign their names and not question anything too closely.

When you actually add up the numbers of people who did this it wasn't a whole lot. It was, as the statisticians like to say, a representative sample of public opinion. But it was a sample that was consistent and could be depended upon to raise their voices in order to influence their congressional representatives. It is the way the system was meant to work, and when there are two or more sides expressing an opinion it works well.

But in the last few years it has not been representative of the population as a whole. Many people gave up and believed their voices didn't matter and that Congress only listened to people who had large wads of cash to throw their way. If this was true, then how come a small segment of the population consisting mostly of homophobic, warmongering religious fanatics came to represent America? Because they were loud and others were not. Because they took the time to make those phone calls, sign their names to those letters, and cut and paste those emails. And the rest of the people did not.

It's time for that to change. I'm going to make it very easy for you. Here's what you need to do:

1. Find out the name, phone number, and email of your representatives. Here is a good place to start:

Congressional Emails and Phone Numbers

2. Call once a month and email once a week. Surely what you believe and want is worth the five minutes it will take to do both those tasks. That's ten minutes a month to let your voice be heard and to have a hand in shaping the kind of government we will all have to live with.

If you need a form letter for either email and/or snail mail, here is a simple template for you to use:

Hon._____________

Washington, D.C.

Dear Congressperson _________:

I am writing to bring to your attention a matter of great importance to me as a voter and as a resident of your district.

(insert a short description here of your concern, whether it is Global Warming, the Draft, the Iraq War, Corporate Sleaze, or any other matter you want them to move to the top of their agenda. Keep it brief and keep it to just one topic per email, phone call, and letter. If you want to write about the war AND Global Warming, send two different emails/letters/phone calls. You letters have a much better reception this way.)

Thank you for your consideration. If you would like to respond to these concerns, here is my

address:

phone number:

email:

Very truly yours,

Here are some hints:


Before you call, write out your statement. Usually your call will be taken by an aide who will make a note of which side you fall on. Make it brief and to the point. Keep in mind that a phone call from you on a particular issue carries more weight than an email and you should call once a month.


Emails or letters are the next best thing. This is a great way to keep your issues fresh in the pile your representative must deal with. Once a week will allow you to thoroughly cover an issue of the week.


Petitions are the least respected of the communications sent to politicians. Everyone and their dog sends them thousands.

Remember, it is OUR government, and it up to US to make sure they know who their employers are.

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Image from Ursine Logic Changing hearts and minds one t-shirt at a time

Remind Congress Who's the Boss

Snow Day!

It's snowing! It's snowing a lot! I can't get out of the driveway. Darn. Guess I'll just have to play all day. :-))))

And a bike ride is probably out of the question, eh?



This was taken a couple hours ago. The car is just a big white blob right now.

Snow Day!

The Darkness and Light of Winter Holidays

At the risk of sounding like Scrooge, most of the time I find myself saying "Bah Humbug" to Christmas. It's not a holiday I celebrate. I am not a Christian. I don't believe in Jesus. I give gifts all year round because I like giving, not because I'm expected to come up with something just because everyone else is. Having my own shop makes gift-giving a lot more fun because if I don't see something I like, I just make something I do like. I really enjoy how my friends and family look forward to my gifts now because they know I made them. That's how gifting should be; it shouldn't be this cringing feeling of what am I going to do with this piece of crap from Auntie Weirdo every year.


For those same reasons, I've made my own cards for several years. Usually I make just a small amount and they are handpainted, individually created little works of art for those near and dear to me. I send Winter Solstice cards to the Pagans and Witches, live Turkeys grazing happily for the non-carnivores in my life, lots of images of candles and light for Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, Solstice, and even Christmas because light is special during the darkest time of the year.



As an informative aside, that's why major holidays during this time celebrate with light. Anyone who has ever lived in a far northern climate like I do knows that light is precious this time of year. Those delightful 10 pm summer sunsets are now replaced with the gray turning dark around 4:30 and regaining its gray hue sometime around 8 or 8:30 am. It's still early...wait until next month when we have about 8 hours of light, if you can call it light when it is mixed with wind, sideways driving rain, and that perpetual grayness of late fall, early winter. Candles and light are big this time of year and necessary. Even warm, desert climates acknowledge the shorter days of winter, the lack of light, and create art for their holidays that is filled with candles and colored bulbs and bright colors.


To acknowledge both this upcoming season of light festivals, I've taken several of my most favorite artwork cards, recreated them for the digital world and turned them into cards in my store.

And besides the need for light, I've also kept in mind the non-carnivores for this upcoming Thanksgiving holiday. This is the card I just sent out for Thanksgiving

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It was inspired by a dear friend who told me that most people never see a live turkey or even know what beautiful birds they are in "real life." So I made this card for her and I have to agree, they are lovely birds. I thank her for opening my eyes to their beauty and I hope you share it with others in your own lives.

Here's the link to the card if you want to buy some. There's currently a 25 percent off sale that goes through the 19th, so you'd have to hurry: Wild Turkeys You get six with envelopes for 11.25 with the discount, which is a great price for special holiday cards! I will leave them at the special price of 15.00 through the holidays as I feel that is both affordable and also reflects the time I spent to make them unique.

This card and most of the alternative offerings is from My Holiday Store, a shop that is separate from Ursine Logic. I started it so I would have a place to buy alternative holiday items and non-religious Christmas cards and gifts. Although most of the items in Ursine Logic are not exactly mainstream and make great gifts, I wanted a special store to acknowledge there are more ways to celebrate Winter than with Christmas.

May you enjoy my offerings and send them to many of your friends who will hopefully enjoy them as well.

The Darkness and Light of Winter Holidays

Understand the "Win"

I wanted to wait for a few days before I wrote about the election because as overjoyed as I am over winning Congress away from those thieving, lying, warmongering parasites, I don't have much faith in their Democratic replacements. I didn't want to give the impression that I believe everything is going to be alright now that the elephant got its butt kicked. I may be an idealist, an optimistic, a believer in the inherent goodness and compassion of human beings, but I am not stupid. Never have been. Not about to start now. ;-)


So here is my take on it all after a few days of doing a lot of reading, a lot of comtemplating, a lot of thinking how things could and could not go. First and foremost, these are career politicians one and all. To get elected to office in America requires millions of dollars and a whole lot of promising to kiss certain asses in payback of donations rendered. Yes, the Democrats won. Now the question must be asked and explored: who do they owe for this victory? We learned too late that the GOP was beholded to the oil companies, the insurance companies, the munitions companies, the pharmaceutical companies...well, the list is long and yes we knew before but we never really knew the extent of that beholding.


Therefore, I propose that one of the first things we do is make a list of these contributors and keep it safe and updated on different blogs and websites. Make it easily available. Make it open. Make it transparent. And then when any legislation comes up for a vote, match its benefits against the list of contributors. When an obvious or not so obvious match pops up, that is the time to take action. Call and write your congressional representatives. Create blog swarms to move the connection to the top of search engines, blogs, personal websites, listservs, and newsletters. Shine a light on it and make noise. Remind your representatives that what the voter gives, the voter can take away.


On a related note, make some noise in the direction of your representatives to enact some real campaign and lobbying reform. Our country is now at the mercy of those who have the most money to throw at an election. Right-wing lunatics like Mellon-Scaife, Murdoch, and the public media who are first and foremost weapons manufacturers and media outlets second, should not be able to enforce their ideology, bloodlust, and war profiteering on our country anymore. This will require even more effort, even more noise and pressure on the congresscritters as many of them are beholden to these bastards.


And finally, for now at least, the most important thing we need to change in this country is protecting the right to vote. It is disgraceful that elections have become no more than a sporting event for some people, an unethical, no rules, no respect, unsanctioned sporting event. Anyone, and I mean anyone who messes with an American's right to vote in any way should be sent to prison as the law currently demands but hasn't been enforced since Bushco lied and cheated their way into power. When all the evils of this administration are studied years from now, interfering with the cherished American right to vote will overshadow all others. We don't need voting reform so much as we need to punish those who interfered with the right to vote. Let's start enforcing the laws and we won't need as much reform. If this means putting the president of Diebold in jail, so be it.


So there you have it for now. Yes, it's a good thing we won, but it is also an awesome responsibility and it is a lot like inheriting a run-down, stripped bare and plundered crack house. The bones of the house are solid but it will take a lot of work, time, money and patience to restore it to its once splendid glory. It will take commitment and strength from all of us working together to take back not just the country but the foundation upon which it was founded.

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Design from Ursine Logic Changing minds one t-shirt at a time

Understand the "Win"

Why I Vote

Why I Vote

I've been asked several times by people of all ages, stripes, and colors why on earth I continue to vote in elections that are rigged and will not reflect the will of the people. My answer is always the same: I will not let these evil, manipulative bastards that are in control kill my hope because once that is gone, they own me. I continue to believe elections can only be stolen if they are close. Don't let this one be close. Get out and vote if you haven't already. Bring a friend to the polls. Make turnout so overwhelming that the will of the people cannot be subverted again.


Sometimes the hardest thing is to admit our own complicity in a bad thing. I see this administration as the result of mass apathy and voter indifference. It's no different than having a swarm of creepy, crawling vermin moving into your house because you don't care enough about it to engage in periodic pest control. These pathetic excuses for human beings, these warmongering cretins who care nothing about human life, are in charge because most of us let them get in and stay there.


I can understand that after 911, most of us were stunned into submission to whomever promised to make the pain go away. These evil Bushco bastards manipulated fear, shock, and very likely even set up the whole thing--or at the very least, allowed it to happen on purpose, for one thing only: to enrich and empower themselves. They care nothing about us. They care only about themselves.


Yes, there was a period of time in this country when we deserved representatives who were as selfish and indifferent as we were. Life seemed like one, big, never-ending party...until Bushco came to town and took over the dance halls, saloons, and our hearts and souls. Did we fight back? Did we question their right to do this? Did we even fucking object?


America is one of the most medicated countries in the world. We either take prescribed drugs that numb us to all feeling, or we buy them off the street or from the liquor stores to numb our pain at being used, abused, manipulated and lied to by these thugs. Many of the repugs have ties to the pharmaceutical industry. Do you think it is an accident, a minor coincidence that all these drugs to numb us started appearing just as they were beginning their takeover of our country?


As the professionals often tell those who are trying to break free from addictions and other destructive behavior: you have to want to get better. It has to come from inside you. That's why you need to get out the vote tomorrow. It's the first step toward getting better.

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Image from Ursine Logic Changing hearts and minds one t-shirt at a time.

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For those of you who are wonderfully crazy enough to read my words after all this time, here's a special sale for the holidays on greeting cards and ornaments as a special reward: 25 percent off. This is only on greeting cards and ornaments. No coupon or code needed. Prices marked down on site already.

Why I Vote

Barack Obama--A Glimmer Of Hope

Lately Politics has been a depressing obligation for me. I have serious differences with many of those running for office...and most of them are people I'm voting for. I have to hold my nose and vote for Maria Cantwell even though she blatantly panders to the military with her vote for the war in Iraq and a half-hearted bone of "it's Rumsfeld's fault" is tossed to the rest of us. No, Maria. It is your fault and the fault of a Congress who no longer listens to the people, but instead kisses the ass of every lobbyist promising campaign dollars. This is NOT representation. This is whoredom.


But the alternative is even worse...a lobbyist, a corporate clone, more of the same selfishness to enrich themselves at the expense of the working class. I'm appalled but no longer surprised that the employees of Safeco and its insurees had to take the financial hit so McGavick could get that multi-million dollar golden parachute. It's what happens when you put corporations in charge of the country. No one should be surprised. It's like getting mad at a predatory animal for ripping into a hunk of fresh meat. That's just corporate behavior. It won't change.

But my vote will go to Democrats no matter how offensive they are in their political pandering, because Bush and his warmongering religious whackos need to be reined in, they need to have some oversight, some accountability for their greed and psychotic visions...or they will get their damned Armaggedon over our dead bodies.

I turn off the news because it might as well be stamped "Made in the Pentagon" for all the objectivity it has. It makes me wonder what Bushco's illegal wiretaps uncovered in their surveillance of private citizens? Drugs? Closet Homosexuality? Bankruptcies? Mistresses? Boy Toys? What would make a Congress that once so elequently spoke against the mindless obedience of citizens in totalitarian regimes become that which they once opposed? What secrets keep them rubberstamping approval for torture, secret prisons, the destruction of the Constitution, unqualified stooges for positions that once required the best and the brightest, and the out and out thievery of their own grandchildren's natural resources? Are they even capable of feeling shame anymore?

The news is bad enough, but the constant assault of meanness, of outright lies and distortions, of attacks on character and race and sexual orientation that has become the new campaign themes of the GOP is a playground gone mad with no supervision. When I do turn the TV on, the sound is mostly muted to spare me the worst of the assault.

But something slipped through today. I saw a man speak with a kind of dignity that we haven't seen in this country for decades. I heard him talk about what would be good for America, what he would bring to us, what he would support and work to make happen for us. I was so stunned I stopped what I was doing and sat down and listened to him. I saw a man who would not bring his uncultured, savage version of diplomacy to other countries, but instead would restore our honor and dignity with his quiet intelligence and cultured demeanor. I saw a man I would be proud to have represent me and what I believe and what is good about America to the rest of the world. I saw what I've been hungry for: a dignified human being who spoke to others with respect and drew respect back for the words he spoke.

That man is Barack Obama. It is my most fervent hope that he runs for President in 2008. We need him. America needs him. The world needs him. Please, Senator Obama. Only you can give us back our dignity and respect. Please be our next President and help heal the wounds inflicted on us all by the current administration.

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Design from: Ursine LogicChanging hearts and minds one t-shirt at a time.

Barack Obama--A Glimmer Of Hope

GOP Sleaze

Before you vote for a Republican, click on these links and find out the sleaze and slime and unethical behavior they are hiding from you.
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Jon Kyl Rick Renzi J.D. Hayworth John Doolittle Richard Pombo Brian Bilbray Marilyn Musgrave Doug Lamborn Rick O'Donnell Christopher Shays Vernon Buchanan Joe Negron Clay Shaw Bill Sali Peter Roskam Mark Kirk Dennis Hastert Chris Chocola John Hostettler Mike Whalen Jim Ryun Anne Northup Geoff Davis Michael Steele Gil Gutknecht Michele Bachmann Jim Talent Conrad Burns Jon Porter Charlie Bass Mike Ferguson Heather Wilson Peter King John Sweeney Tom Reynolds Randy Kuhl Robin Hayes Charles Taylor Steve Chabot Jean Schmidt Deborah Pryce Joy Padgett Melissa Hart Curt Weldon Mike Fitzpatrick Don Sherwood Lincoln Chafee Bob Corker George Allen Frank Wolf Mike McGavick Dave Reichert

GOP Sleaze

Bush Has No Clothes

I've always had a friendly yet frustrating relationship with a member of my extended family who has been a life-long Republican. The only time she deviated from a straight ticket punching the Republican candidates in her long voting life was her vote against Nixon. She called him "creepy," which at the time, was the strongest language a lady of her culture and breeding could use in public and around children like myself.

But that same lady, now a dignified matriarch in her 90's, uses language far more descriptive when describing the current GOP. "These are not Republicans," she tells me. "These are damned thugs, piece of shit thieves and liars."

Her crumbling started with the out of control spending to reward corporate donors that she defined as "Halliburton bridges to nowhere." Every piece of pork in the budget was a gift to some big business abuser and she grumbled out loud that the small businesses the GOP once swore to protect were being taken out by Walmarts and other big box donors to the GOP. "This is NOT my Republican party," she complained every time another small business went under because it couldn't compete with its corporate-sponsored rivals.

She was also uncomfortable with the huge tax break given to the rich. As a wealthy woman this is significant because she always complained about how much she had to pay in taxes. But she also was angry that people like me had so much deducted from my paychecks. "I can afford the extra hit. People who are supporting families on your kind of salary cannot. That isn't right."

But what started the downward slide for her was Katrina. She believes in America, what it represents to the rest of the world, the whole concept of a Democracy, a country where all people are created equally, even if it doesn't always work out that way in real life. She believes in the idea that hard work is rewarded and we take care of our own. Katrina put a lie to all that. It exposed Bushco as an entity who could have done something but did not. The final straw was Bush playing guitar at a GOP fundraiser while bodies remained unclaimed in the devastation of New Orleans, especially the often played tragic sight of that poor woman who sat dead in a wheelchair outside the superdome for days. If anything began the dismantling of the Bushco compassionate conservatism myth, it was that dead woman in a wheelchair. "He's out there raising millions of dollars and there are people dying just a few miles away from his neglect."

By the time she understood that she's been lied to about the reasons for invading Iraq, the cover-up and protection of pedophiles, and especially the swiftboating of veterans who actually served by those who did not, she was already seeing a naked emperor every time Bush showed up in the news. But it took Cheney saying how great things were going in Iraq...as the news scroll beneath him showed over 60 Americans killed in Iraq so far this month, for her to say the words she hadn't spoken since the 1960's: "I'm voting for the Democrats." There was no joy in her voice. Just acceptance of something that had to be done for the sake of a greater good.

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This design available on t-shirts, stickers, magnets and many other products at Ursine LogicChanging hearts and minds one t-shirt at a time.

Bush Has No Clothes

Getting Scared Stupid

I've written a lot on fear and how Bushco uses it to keep the sheeple huddled in the pasture, but I have a difficult time accepting how people give themselves up so easily. Understanding is not the same as accepting. That's why I can see the manipulation of fearmongering when it appears as primary color terror alerts that make it simple to stay in the right stage of fear, and it's why I can take apart tactics and see that making people dump out their liquids in the airport line is training them to stand in stupid lines like herds of obedient cattle without asking too many questions or demanding too many rights. But it doesn't explain why people allow themselves to be subjected and manipulated in such a way.

Sure you say, and how do I get on a plane without being a stupid ass sheep? I don't. I haven't flown for three years. I drive everywhere. Yes, it takes me longer to drive than fly, but then I haven't really needed to go anywhere that I couldn't get to in two or three days of driving. It helps that I love traveling by car. I love stopping in small new places and going for walks and getting to know people. I don't know yet what I'll do when I have to fly somewhere because I won't have the required amount of time to drive. Maybe I'll take a train. Maybe I'll join up with one or more people who feel like I do and we can drive in shifts. I just don't know because I'm not in that situation yet. I used to fly two or three times a month for my job. I've managed to still do my job and turn the required traveling that I used to dread, into a series of mini-vacations. I feel a personal sense of victory in denying the airlines my cash for the last three years. They've lost thousands of my dollars and I've kept my sense of self intact.

I also know there are some especially distasteful reasons that people sell out and many times it is because they want something in return for that. I think of people in positions of power who could have come forward and said what they knew about Bush and his lies before all these people died. But they held their nose because it meant a promotion, an opportunity to make money, a chance to meet someone influential, an in to some situation of exclusivity they might otherwise be denied. These are the people with blood on their hands, and they will eventually wake in the night trying to wash it off and discovering that it is burned into their souls.

But the ones I pity are the poor fools who huddle in that pasture and live in such fear because they have no self to lose. They don't even know they have such a thing. And if they accidently stumble on it, if they suddenly against all odds wake up one day and discover they have a mind and it was meant to think for itself, well...I don't want to be around to see that. It's not pretty when someone realizes they've been played for a fool, especially when it's Bushco that took their religious faith and played it as it were nothing more than a shiny toy they would later discard when it outlived its usefulness. Just like Gays, any people of faith who vote for more of the same will have only themselves to blame when the door on the pasture slams shut and they can no longer leave it standing up.

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Design from Ursine Logic where getting scared for Halloween is a good thing.

Getting Scared Stupid

Pedophiles in Congress

I thought I was beyond being shocked by the actions of the GOP controlled congress after several years of being lied to about the reasons for going to war, the abuse of power, the cronyism that resulted in totally inept people occupying positions of responsibility, the outright theft of the taxpayers money and resources for their own personal enrichment and gain, the blatant "for sale" sign hung up in the halls of congress for lobbyists, and an endless list of crime, corruption, sleaze, manipulation, and total disregard for our country and its constitution.

But by covering up the actions of the child predator/pedophile Mark Foley, I am beyond shocked. This is exploiting children for personal gain and profit. This is covering up the actions of a sick and twisted individual in order to cover their own asses. Is this some more of what they mean by family values? Is this more of what they meant when they said they were going to restore the honor and integrity of congress? Is this more of what they meant when they vowed to protect the children of America from the evils that threatened them on a daily basis?

I am so disgusted that I can't even find words to describe how I feel, other than to say they have betrayed every child in America with this unforgivable conduct. Even if you think voting is stupid or worthless or that your vote won't count, please go to the polls on November 7th and vote these pedophile protectors out of office. Vote by absentee ballot if you are worried about your vote counting. Pick it up in person. Fill it out. Drop it off in person. The only way we will keep them from stealing another election is by voting in such overwhelming numbers that they can't steal it again. Just remember, a low turnout is a ticket for them to steal. Don't give it to them.

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This design available on t-shirts, stickers, magnets and many other products at Ursine LogicChanging hearts and minds one t-shirt at a time.

Pedophiles in Congress

Halloween Horror Stories

I was going to write something cheerful and informative about Halloween as it is one of my favorite holidays. But the events of the last few days with the GOP revealing themselves even more as the party of liars, cheats, warmongers, war profiteers, and now perverts, has left me disgusted with the state of our poor country. How did we let this country sink so low to put these creeps in charge of our lives? My heart aches for all of us. So instead of writing, I'm going to invite you to visit my Halloween store and try and remember what it was like to be a kid and not have to worry that your elected representatives were going to come after you for bad and evil things. Happy escaping. And please remember to vote. Voting these disgusting excuses for human beings out of office in November is our only hope to restoring dignity and honor to our country.

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My Halloween Shop

Halloween Horror Stories