john mccain politics presidential candidates republicans: CREDO fair pay act fair pay bill gender equality john mccain lilly ledbetter sexism take action
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Sign the petition…
I went on a little tirade a couple days ago regarding John McCain’s sexist statement that women just need more “training and education” - not equal pay or the ability to fight for it. In my inbox today was a petition. The Fair Pay bill will be revoted soon - let your Senators know how you feel:
Subject: Tell McCain: Stop insulting women
Dear Friend,
Last Wednesday, Senate Republicans filibustered the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, a law that would have overturned an appalling Supreme Court decision that practically abolished remedies for gender-based compensation discrimination in the workplace. In opposing this legislation, Senator John McCain said that if women want better-paying jobs, they just need more “education and training.” Then, he didn’t even show up for the vote.
Let’s tell Senator McCain that should stop blocking an up or down vote on the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act if he wants to ensure equal rights for women under the law.
Please have a look and take action.
http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/mccain_vs_ledbetter/?r_by=-1589106-Mt_SAb&rc=paste
Thanks!
TV: blair brooke smith denyse schmidt erika hahn gossip girl grey's anatomy hi-5 karla cheatham mosley katie jump rope
by Blabby
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cool TV spottings
Here are two things I saw on TV that I thought were cool. On Grey’s Anatomy, Dr. Hahn’s surgical cap is (I think) made from Denyse Schmidt Katie Jump Rope fabric.
On Gossip Girl, the waitress that kept trying to get Blair to get up from the table at Butter is Karla from Hi-5!
john mccain presidential candidates republicans: fair pay bill gail collins john mccain justice alito lilly ledbetter new york times republicans supreme court working women
by Blabby
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McCain v. Women
Lilly Ledbetter was voted against in the Supreme Court for waiting too long to say she was paid less than her male co-workers. Then congress just voted down the Fair Pay bill, which would have provided more opportunities for restitution for someone like Lilly - who’s case was lost on what seems to me to be a sad technicality.
I hope my Republican friends are following this - especially the women. Here’s a good op-ed column from the New York Times by Gail Collins, summing up the whole shebang.
Here’s a quote to whet your whistle - McCain’s response to women not receiving fair pay in the workplace. Or rather, a national average of .77 on every $1. (And that’s just white women, African American women and Latinas earn even less!)
Having delivered his objections to the Ledbetter bill this week, McCain went on to tell reporters that what women really need is “education and training, particularly since more and more women are heads of their households, as much or more than anybody else. And it’s hard for them to leave their families when they don’t have somebody to take care of them.”
It’s hard for them to leave their families when they don’t have someone to take care of them? Does he mean children? Or does he mean the women need someone to take care of them? It’s annoying - whatever he meant. Women don’t need more training. If, like Ledbetter, they’re doing the same work for less pay, that’s unfair, and it’s gender discrimination, which is SUPPOSEDLY illegal in this freakin’ country!
Here’s another good story about the same issue, from Slate’s Dahlia Lithwick.
blogging: chihhang cool girl istockphoto stock images vector images
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new artwork
What do you think of my new header? It needs a little work - my crafting side is seriously unrepresented, but so far so good. I love that girl. It’s a vector image from iStockphoto by an artist named Chihhang. I’m not sure what I want to do with it yet, but she’s cool. I had to buy something because my iStockphoto credits were going to expire. I think it’s lame that they ever expire. But I guess it makes you come back, and probably buy more credits in order to get what you want.
the big “d”
My only real experience with divorce is my parents’ divorce. And I was twelve. And then I almost filed for divorce with a dallas family lawyer in my third year of marriage, but we we decided to go to counseling, and it was very effective for us.
I mean, the first, second and third counselors.
Now, in year eight, we’re doing pretty good.
My sister and her husband separated a couple times - and they’ve also been in counseling for some time, holding divorce back with everything they’ve got. Well, my sister is anyway.
I see the divorce rates climbing, but I don’t know what it’s about. Is it because it’s easy? It sure doesn’t seem easy on any of the people involved.
I think my dad had no choice. My mom was a serious alcoholic in serious denial. She was cheating on him with a woman. There’s a little too much info for you. But her alcoholism was so serious that she died five years later of liver disease - at age 42! Very young. He spent a lot of his life trying to take care of her and support her, but you can’t save an alcoholic that doesn’t want to be saved.
But what about people that aren’t in crazy, co-dependent or adulterous relationships? What happens to make people think they love each other enough for forever and then decide that they don’t?
When I lived in Texas, in an Army town, there were lots of divorces. Divorce lawyer in Dallas and all over the area were really doing well, but Army families were not. Not that it’s the Dallas divorce lawyer s’ faults. I do know one couple that went to an Army Chaplain who basically told them to divorce - that there was really no hope for them. The wife was relieved and the husband was crushed. Awful.
Anyway, I don’t know where I’m going with this, but my brother-in-law and his wife have just decided to divorce, and I’m really sad about it. they have two daughters, ages nine and five, and the girls NEVER see their dad. They live in Germany and he lives in CA. So what can they do? He’s going to see them every summer and every other Christmas. To me, this sounds unbearable. But he seems alright. He was married for almost 10 years, and deployed for at least six of those. My sister-in-law has basically always been a single parent, so maybe the girls don’t really notice.
Still, it seems awful.
Barack Obama Democrats politics presidential candidates: Barack Obama bill moyers democratic primary jeremiah wright politics presidential candidates presidential election rev. jeremiah wright reverend wright trinity church of christ yahoo!
by Blabby
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more grey areas
I’d like to see this entire interview, and I’ll be looking for future ones. Listen to Rev. Wright…does he sound like some kind of maniac? I think he sounds perfectly reasonable - a veteran, an educated man who has spent his life in service to the Lord.
I’m going to have to look into the whole thing a little more, because the right is sure making a huge stink about it, no matter what Obama says.
I’ve certainly been in some crazy-ass Southern Baptist churches that have been absolutely insulting to women, well beyond what is supported by scripture. One Southern Baptist preacher actually said women in the military do different push ups then the men. This is not true, by the way. I was personally outraged.
Basically, there are wierdos everywhere. And pastors can’t be an exception - they’re just people - just like every other crazy out there.
Is it meaningful that Obama has been sitting in this guy’s church for 20 years? Maybe. But Barack is a thinking man, not a mindless sheep. Didn’t Billy Graham serve as spiritual leader for several presidents even though he was a serious anti-semitic for a long time (until he repented, of course)?
Listen for yourselves.
blabbery: anita and bernardo carlee blakemore chita rivera elsinore high school jets and sharks jon hurst leonard bernstein musicals rita moreno tony and maria west side story
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stay cool, boy
I went to the opening performance of West Side Story at Elsinore High School tonight…what an awesome show. Man, those kids really gave it everything. Some of the dance scenes were a little painful to watch - I would guess that none of the boys have taken any dance - but Anita was fantastic. She was played by Carlee Blakemore, who happens to be 18, so I feel okay putting her name on the WWW, and she was really excellent. Great voice, great dancer, totally believable. She even had a smoky voice like Rita Moreno. Tony and Maria were great too, especially Maria’s voice - but she smiled through all the dramatic scenes, even when she slapped Chino, so that was weird.
The crowd favorite by far was Principal Jon Hurst as Doc. Who knew so many of Doc’s lines were made for a principal. “How are we going to teach kids today?” “How are these kids ever going to learn?” He was great, and the crowd loved him.
There was a weird moment when Tony and Maria “sleep together” - a.k.a. lay on the bed fully clothed while the lights dim and the stage crew wheels the horrendous two-story bridal shop/apt. set away. The whole crowd cracked up. Not a mature crowd…it made for a very funny scene.
There was also a LOT of kissing! Anita and Bernardo really went for it, full on french kissing with her leg wrapped around his thigh and his hand on her booty…is that appropriate? I guess, who cares? But it seemed kind of extreme to me. I wonder if the director knew that they were going to do that.
Anyway, I loved it. I loved the awkward dancing and the off-tempo singing and the shining moments of real showmanship - like Anita and Maria’s duet of I Have a Love.
Mostly, I loved that a new generation is performing this musical that I’ve loved my whole life, and let’s hope they’ll love it their whole lives and play it for their kids and it will continue on forever.
Hats off to you, Mr. Bernstein! And Chita Rivera - the best Anita ever.
Barack Obama Democrats hillary clinton John Edwards presidential candidates: Barack Obama colbert report comedy central Democrat Debate hillary clinton indecision 2008 informedvoter2008.com John Edwards john mccain pennsylvania primary stephen colbert video
by Blabby
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Candidates on Colbert
If you didn’t see these videos - take a minute to watch. As always, Colbert is hilarious, but Clinton, Edwards and Obama are pretty good too. Especially Edwards.
http://blog.indecision2008.com/
blabbery Crafts embroidery quilting sewing: Crafts dontcallmebecky.com embroidery family flickr haircuts hillary lang moo moo cards quilting sewing stitchettes toddlers wee wonderfuls
by Blabby
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weekly events
My Moo cards arrived this week! I really love the packaging. I think that sleeve around the box would make an excellent quilt design. Here’s a sampling of my cards…I got the pack of 100, with 10 different photos from my flickr.
On the back, they have my name, number, email and website. Pretty cool. I also got a fun little carrier for them, but the picture is blurry. Trust me, it’s cool.
William has been doing lots of painting lately. He’s really getting more imaginitive. I mean, all the paintings kind of look the same to me - masterpieces, of course - but he says things like, “Look, Mommy, waves! A bird! A whale! A road!”
Today, we took him to a cool little barber shop on Main Street and got all of his sweet messy hair cut off. I was a little sad to see it go, but he does look pretty great with shorter hair too. He didn’t cry at all - probably because of the orange lollipop he had a death grip on throughout the entire process. His second lollipop ever.
And I’ve been hard at work stitching up some Wee Wonderfuls stitchettes. For Pauline: I’m using 3 strands of floss for most of them - sometimes less strands on their eyes or mouths. My backgrounds are 10-inch squares of mostly white cotton. I plan to copy dontcallmebecky’s awesome quilt eventually.
And finally, my hexes are pinned, and I’ve already appliquéd the big one and three little ones down. Not in this picture. But they’re coming along great. I’m excited that the whole project will be done by hand. Hand pieced, hand appliquéd, and eventually, hand quilted.
So that’s it for me. What’s happening with you?
Crafts quilting: applique calico cottage mary ellen's best press quiltygirl.blogspot.com susan prioleau
by Blabby
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Jay saves the day!
I took my messy hexagon flowers over to QuiltyGirl’s yesterday, and she gave me the perfect solution to flatten those crazy seams…Mary Ellen’s Best Press!!! A few squirts and a hot iron, and my hexagon flowers were perfectly flat! I’ve pinned them to the foundation, and am appliqueing them down today. Easy-peasy.
Thanks, Jay!!!
I’m taking a beginning appliqué class on Sunday at Calico Cottage in Murietta. I’m excited - it’s with Susan Prioleau, who doesn’t seem to have a website, but teaches classes all over Southern California. I have a beautiful Baltimore Album pattern of hers, and I’m looking forward to her class. I think I have the basics of appliqué down, but I think it helps to learn other techniques also - then I can figure out the best way for me.
