Love, Anti-Valentines, and Friends For Life

I couldn't let my least favorite holiday go by without some comment, so on Valentine's Eve, here are some thoughts on this "holiday." Many of you are probably surprised that I don't like Valentine's Day. After all, I've said many times that only love will heal this planet and that the healing must begin inside us first.


I still say that. And I also say I don't believe Valentine's is a day of love. It is a day to get stressed out over love, to give it a financial value, to make one person happy and another one sad when you choose who gets the best valentine. Remember when we gave Valentines at school? There was always one or two of the really cute girls and guys who got the fancy, elaborate valentines. Their bags overflowed with unrequited love.


Meanwhile, the rest of us looked at our mass-produced bits of paper and said screw this, I'm going to hang out with my friends and practice unconditional love to fight against this injustice. And we did. And we grew up hating Valentine's Day, no matter how many cool, elaborate valentines we got from admirers, lovers, partners, husbands, wives, and all the mixture of love, sex and paying for it dearly clubs we belonged to.


I fell in with a bad crowd in high school. We protested against war. We became vegetarians. We listened to music that stirred our blood and bodies to create a sexual revolution that changed forever the roles between men and women in this country. We began to talk about and write about and sing about things that mattered to us like overpopulation, pollution,the strip-malling of our hometowns. And we redefined love to mean something that was genuine and not bought, felt and not enforced, and celebrated instead of feared.


During that time one of us created the first anti-valentine, a work of art on bits of paper and cardboard and even tin foil. We exchanged these little gifts of love with each other on Valentine's Day, no matter what the relationship or gender. We gave each other these gifts as a way to express that we loved each other, we appreciated each other, and that we understand a very basic concept: lovers come and go, but friendship is forever.


Each year since then many of us have continued to exchange these anti-valentines. And truth be told, one of the major reasons I became a Cafepress shopkeeper was because I fell in love with their anti-valentine designs. It was the one place I could go to see how others were reacting to the enforced day of love. I saw at once that not only was my little group far from unique, we also had many friends in the world who thought the same way we did.


This year I made this design. I bought it for myself and wear it a lot. It's a sentiment that always brings a smile to my face and it also pokes fun at the whole idea of dating, valentines, and the ridiculous idea that we should only express our love for each other one day of the year. Enjoy!

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

Love, Anti-Valentines, and Friends For Life

Anna Nicole and The Bubble Boy

There's something deeply obscene and sad about the way the world came to a sudden stop the other day over Anna Nicole Smith. People who had shut out most of the Iraq war horrors, and the reality of a leadership that sees its own citizens as impediments on its path to perpetual war, and the juvenile and vengeful reactions of the Libby-Cheney cabal over someone who dared to insert some truth into their bullshit--they all stopped to pay a weird sort of homage to this pathetic caricature of a woman.


After I got over my outrage and stopped my stream of insults directed at the simple mindedness and short attention span of my fellow citizens, (her death replaced a crazed astronut in diapers, for dawg's sake!) I began to understand exactly what Anna Nicole represented and why she had such a pull on people. She was the America we've come to know in the last few years of the Bush Junta.


She was the garishness of an ideology that was fed by greed, an unfathomable lust for power, bling instead of substance, and the indifferent coupling required to move forward one notch on the political belt. With her inflated, unreal breasts, exaggerated red lips, and hair so stripped of color it was an anti-color, she paralleled the inflated expectations of world domination based on unreal mountains of evidence, an exaggeration of all fears and ethnic groups to more clearly create a red and blue divided country, and propaganda so stripped of truth that it became its own doublespeak crapped out daily by the White House press secretary of the quarter.


She was crude as Bushco is crude. She was uneducated as Bushco is uneducated. She was a package put together to appeal to the lowest common denominator just as the Buscho political agenda was put together to appeal to the dumbest of the dumb, the weakest and most gullible of the flock. She was portrayed as both the used and the user, just as Bush is portrayed as both puppet and inflexible ideologue. Everyone wanted to be her daddy but no one wanted to step up and take responsibility while she was alive, just as everyone can see the daddy issues between Bush the bubble boy and the daddy who loves Jeb best, but no one can step up and say get some therapy you assholes before you kill all of us.


And now the vultures that always follow train wrecks so they can pick the bones clean are circling Anna Nicole's preserved by court order body to lay claim to money she might be granted sometime in the mythical future. They are claiming paternity of her baby now that it is a child of future wealth and privilege instead of the product of their white trash coupling. They are saying oh how awful that she was so exploited as they stare transfixed at those enormous breasts, those red lips and hear that breathless little girl voice coming through the television screens once more.


And while they are so transfixed, Bush the Bubble boy is pulling wings off the fly that is Iran while shiny, ideological toys are waved in front of him by the neo-con vultures getting ready to wind up the idiot for one more spin around the room of smoke, mirrors and lies. If we fail to stop this next war in Iran, it is only fitting that Anna Nicole Smith becomes the historical symbol of our generation. We'll have earned her.

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

Anna Nicole and The Bubble Boy

Some Enraged Thoughts On Global Warming

After watching "An Inconvenient Truth," I was left with a wide range of emotions that mixed with the ones I had over the stolen election of 2000 and the subsequent disaster the Bushco thieves have wrought upon the planet. I rarely get angry. I believe anger is something that feeds on you and turns you into a hate zombie consumed by things beyond your control. But I've been angry for a long time now and today when everything the Bushco bastards tried to suppress about Global Warming and Climate Change was finally allowed to see a glimmer of daylight, I became furious.

From day one this administration has threatened, blackmailed, intimidated and bought off Scientists, Doctors, Teachers, Scholars, and just about everyone who believed something that threatened Bushco bank accounts. They inflicted their junk science creationism voodoo on a generation of school children who couldn't fight back and demand a real education. They turned stem cells into a political tool instead of using their influence to help those who have long ago given up on hope. They cheated human beings out of real research that could have found the cure for cancer in favor of enriching pharmaceutical donors with millions of dollars of happy pills sales, that also had the added benefit of keeping people drugged and indifferent. They lied and sat on proof of Global Warming so oil companies could make billions of dollars in profits without having to even clean up their messes--like Exxon and the still unpaid costs of the Valdez environmental catastrophe. They let an American city die and have done shit to make it live again.

Everywhere they could cut a corner for security, safety and the common good in favor of lining their own pockets, they did. I long ago realized that Bushco cares only about money and the power it brings. All the rest of it, the religious crap, the fetus worship, the Middle East plan to slaughter everyone into democracy has nothing to do with ideology. They will pretend to believe whatever pays the best. And they will find a way to silence anyone who threatens their obscene and money-hungry pursuit of power. If the Republican Christo-Fascists ever cut off the money supply they use to buy legislation that puts us square into another dark age of religious persecution of the non-believers and the turning of women into chattel, they would turn on them as well. If the oil in the Middle East disappeared overnight, the very next day the troops would be coming home and there would be no interest in bringing "democracy" to places like Iran anymore.

But the worst damage they did was to the planet, a place that belongs to everyone and not just Bushco, a place that belongs to future generations and not just the greedy bastards that have staked their oily, greasy claim all over it. They tried to hide the damage their policies were doing. They lied about the effect of those policies. They cheated their grandchildren out of the only real legacy they had any right to pass on: a clean and healthy planet. For this reason alone, they should hang for their crime of murder, because it's a murder that doesn't end with this generation. It will continue to kill and destroy for generations to come and that is what makes them truly evil. Future generations will curse the names of these bastard ancestors that make up Buscho and if there is such a thing as an afterlife, may they hear their voices loud and clear for eternity.

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

Some Enraged Thoughts On Global Warming

Meat Puppet In Chief

There are days when I just can't believe this is what we have for a President. He reduces me to childish retorts, sneering insults, and frat boy jokes. More and more it is clear that the only reason he became President was the same reason idiot Kings were put in charge of countries--they are the meat puppets who stand in front of the curtain while the real bastards pull the strings.

Meat Puppet In Chief

Crazy Men in their 40's...

I'm very selective about the people I let into my life. I know what kind of friend I am, how seriously I take the word and the obligation of friendship. I also know this is what attracts people to me who want only to feed off that which I am. I know the world is full of people who have issues, who have dramas, who are on paths that will eventually grow them into actualized human beings. I also know that I've put in my time helping some of those people walk that path at the expense of my own sanity at times, and that I will continue to do so.


But the years have also taught me to be selective as I told a new acquaintance. We were sharing a cup of tea on a cold rainy day. The conversation was wonderful with just that touch of danger an underlying attraction can take on. We agreed politically, mentally, about love and friendship and all the cornerstones that form a solid connection. When he left to go home I experienced a momentary sense of sadness that so much potential wouldn't be developed further.


He left angry. I won't see him again. It's a conscious choice I made the minute he started to talk about his marriage, his kids, his frustration with his job, the gray that was taking over his hair, his fantasy of just bagging it all and buying a motorcycle and traveling the world before it was too late.


In other words, he just told me that he was offering me the typical friendship a woman has with a man in his mid to late 40's...months of dependence on me every time something went bad at home or work, gratitude for listening without ever saying much in return, an intertwining of his life with mine so complete that all that was missing from a total bonding was the sex that would never be. (The reason for that is simple. I don't mess with married men. It's disrespectful to the women and there's always complications.)


Nothing is simple with a man, especially friendship. They are either actively hunting a mate, in the throes of raising children and therefore not available unless it involves "the children." Or they are about to go bat shit crazy starting in their early to mid-40's when the children become teenagers and their marriages start to tighten around their necks.


In the last few years I've let myself get caught, for the sake and honor of friendship, in the whirlpool that was created by these men experiencing all the typical symptoms of a full-blown mid-life crisis. It always starts the same way. The woman they've been with for a decade and more is suddenly dragging him down, making too many demands, stopped loving him, is gaining weight, and becoming boring. If it wasn't for her, there's so much he could do, but now it's too late and it's all her fault because SHE makes him unhappy. And the children hate him, want him only for money and expensive presents, and as a chauffeur if they aren't old enough to drive themselves.


Think I just know some strange people? Well, I do. But I'm not the only one. Many women have been stunned to hear out of nowhere that their husband of many years suddenly wants a divorce.


I've been on the other end of hysterical phone calls at least twice a year now for the last few years as I tried to explain to my distraught women friends that it wasn't all their fault, that maybe it wasn't even the man's fault, that they were just caught up in a psychological whirlpool so intense they couldn't fight their way out and survive.


Sadly, it usually does end in divorce and even though the men always swear the girlfriend came later, she was usually in the picture when things started to go crazy. She became a symbol of all that was wrong in their lives. She became the unattainable Goddess they could have if only if only if only. And worst of all, these men often do end up with the Goddess who ends up becoming their new wife. It takes about 18 months for love and lust to become ordinary. This is after maybe another child has been conceived or since she is always younger than him, she often brings young children into the new relationship.


And the man finds himself in the exact same situation he escaped from. But instead of the bliss, he often has less money because now he is supporting two families on the income that was barely enough for one family. He often goes from having teenagers to having infants and young children in the home. Instead of more freedom he suddenly has less. Most of these new relationships end within two years and the man is left with nothing. Two of my friends became suicidal. One ended up killing himself for, as he put it in his suicide note, "Throwing away a beautiful family and a wife who loved me."


So what has this to do with me and friendship with a man in his 40's? Actually, quite a bit. You see, as the Patron Saint of difficult people, I draw these fools to me like bear to honey. I start out with friends who are couples and end up with two friends who won't be in the same room with each other and who spend most of their time trying to make me take sides. If the friendship is solid enough, I'll risk it.


Why risk? Because in the end, I'll still have the woman as a friend. We'll still stay in touch frequently. We'll call each other all the time and share emails. At first I have this with the men too...until one day the calls stop coming, the emails go unanswered, the voicemail doesn't get returned. Then I know he has begun the next relationship and I cease to exist. I become insignificant, an annoyance, that friend who becomes an obligation whose call he must answer as he and his new love giggle privately as he rolls his eyes to take my call. I become part of his past, the friend of his ex, the one who knows how low he went and the throes of his despair. I know too much about him. It doesn't matter squat that I gave him the depths of my friendship, that I cancelled appointments because he needed to talk, that I listened to him for hours on end go on and on about stuff that was essentially boring and tedious and annoying because I'd heard it so often from men before him. My friendship didn't matter anymore than it matters to him that his wife gave him her life, her youth, love and support for all those years.


And that is why I am acquaintances with men in their 40's and save my deep heart connections for men who are at least in their 50's and have already gone through all that nonsense. I'm a good friend. I have a lot to give. And I don't believe in wasting anything, especially my time, my love, and especially my friendship.


So, he left mad. He'll probably call me in a few years and say, hey you know what? You were right. Let's meet for tea, and I'll happily agree. Maybe I'll even invite his ex to join us.

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

Crazy Men in their 40's...

What do you mean is Obama BLACK enough???

Ever since Hillary and Obama announced their presidential runs, watching the news "actors" delivering their commentary is giving me bad flashbacks to the 1950's. That's the last time I heard such bullshit about whether a WOMAN can do anything as opposed to a man. Are we hearing anything about John Edward's gender? Do we hear about oh gawd, not another southern white man! Has anyone asked Elizabeth Dole lately if she would have risen so far in politics if she hadn't been married to Bob? And yet some meathead actually asked Hillary that today. He asked her if she would be running for president, if she would be in such a position of power if it hadn't been for Bill--which completely shit on the fact that she's been a successful senator who won re-election all by herself without Bill.

The pathetic excuse for commentators are falling all over themselves to see who can get the dumbest remark in that focuses just on her gender and not her qualifications. Next people will be saying she is too "pushy" to be president, too much of a bitch, too hormonal, too emotional, too castrating...the list goes on and on for those who want it to go on. The rest of us think of castration as something that's going to happen to welfare for the rich and corporate and not something she's going to do to Bill or anyone else with a butcher knife as they sleep.

But all that pales, literally PALES as in stupid white people pales, when compared with the idiocy coming out of people's mouths over Obama. All the closet racists are coming on down to get their two cents of marginalized intellect into the dumbshit stew. They are asking us, we the people who know better, we who haven't thought this way for years if at all, if AMERICA will vote for a black president? WTF!!!?????

In my never humble opinion, the best response for that came from a woman who runs a discussion list I've been on for her over a decade. I made the following design to capture as best as I can remember, her perfectly reasonable solution to those who ask if Obama is BLACK enough to run for president. It's the one at the top of the page that says: "Will slap next person who says Barack Obama isn't black enough."

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Design from Ursine Logic. Changing minds one t-shirt at a time. Visit Ursine Logic for more designs. And a great big thank you to Kamal from 3blackchicks.com for suggesting this design and others. If you're into movies, this is the site to visit. Tell her I said Hi!

What do you mean is Obama BLACK enough???

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