This is the movie *I* want to see this sumer.

Opening in NYC, LA, and SF June 12th. I won't be there... can you go see it for me?

Discussion Topic: END CORPORATE "PERSONHOOD"

END CORPORATE "PERSONHOOD"

An 1886 Supreme Court clerk's headnotes misreading (Santa Clara County vs. Southern Pacific Railroad) applied the 14th Amendment to corporations, extending to them all the rights, but none of the responsibilities, of human persons. The result has been the steady erosion of our democracy since then, and the consequent rise of the corporate state, which is primarily responsible for the military-corporate-media-academic complex, the expansion of the often brutal U.S. global empire (including the IMF, WTO, and World Bank) with its protecting militarism, and the destruction of our only planet's environment, all in the service of corporate capital's endless lust for power and profits. Corporate personhood is at the core of all of our problems. Ending it is the start of the way back to humane civilization.

- ED CIACCIO (RETIRED TEACHER/CURRENT ACTIVIST)

Yes, I know...

It's gone bizerk. I'm working on it. Anyone know how to get this in particular to stop? I'd, of course, like all the bars across the top like normal.
Yes, the side bars are at the bottom... and I mean plural, I made a 3 column layout since the 1 side bar was beyond unmanageable. I also moved a ton around, added a 365 Flickr feed and put a scroll bar on the unruly archive list.

I guess this is what happens at 2-3am when there are no kids in my lap and I'm juiced on way too much caffeine. Remind me not to do that again.

UPDATE: ok, so bars are up and blog is down. E gads.

I caught Santa!! (kinda)

The kids are never going to believe me...
We were watching Santa's progress all day long. After they went to bed, I had work to do wrapping their gifts. (nothing was wrapped) John, Grand and I were quite busy until Grand was about to leave and Daddy had already gone to bed. (he's under the weather) I double checked on Santa's progress and sure enough.... HE was HERE! Well, in Charlotte anyway. I had to check on Jack after Grand had left, and Santa apparently didn't want to see me either since he dropped by while I was upstairs.
So, I caught him on the satellite, but not in person. Drat. I'll just have to try again next year.

;)

In support of Raw Milk

It was an interesting day today... it started with the funeral of a friend's 23 day old infant. Very, very sad... (Previously posted about that)

...and then moved to my normal bi-monthly milk delivery down in SC. As soon as I pulled up and parked I got a tap at the car window with a guy holding a digital video camera pointed at me asking for an interview. Um, ok. Good ting I wasn't frumpy dirty last second out the door Mommy today! I was still pretty dressed up from the morning.

Turns out his name is Max Kline and he is riding across the country in the next 40 days in support of Raw Milk, stopping at deliveries like ours, farms, and other supporter's homes. Very interesting seeing as food myths are of personal interest to me.

I wish him well on his journey and can't wait to see his finished product. I hope he can help make an impact on our crazy backwards culture.

In other milk related musings... it was last month that I noticed, for the first time since I was about 13, I drink milk without thinking about it twice. Seeing as it resulted in such pain for so long - even sometimes with Lactaid - I was naturally hesitant to just up and drink a glass even though with raw I can. Well, I am happy to say... I can now chug it with the best and not think twice. The pain is a pretty distant memory! Bring on the gluten free cookies and a big tall glass of the creamy goodness. :)

Go Vote!!

I got an email from a yahoo group that, at first read seemed outlandish and overblown. So, I googled it. I added all of the links you see. I do make a point of exercising my right to vote, and do slack on local elections. This November I pledge to do better. I do not care how you vote, but please... VOTE.
---------------

This is the story of our Grandmothers, and Great-grandmothers,
as they lived only 90 years ago.
It was not until 1920 that women were granted the right to go to the polls and vote. The women who made it so were innocent and defenseless. And by the end of the night, they were barely alive. Forty prison guards wielding clubs and their warden's blessing went on a rampage against the 33 women wrongly convicted of 'obstructing sidewalk traffic.'
They beat Lucy Burn, chained her hands to the cell bars above her head and left her hanging for the night, bleeding and gasping for
air. They hurled Dora Lewis into a dark cell, smashed her head against an iron bed and knocked her out cold. Her cellmate, Alice Cosu, thought Lewis was dead and suffered a heart attack. Additional affidavits describe the guards grabbing, dragging, beating, choking, slamming, pinching, twisting and kicking the women.
Thus unfolded the 'Night of Terror' on Nov. 15, 1917, when the warden at the Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia ordered his guards to teach a lesson to the suffragists imprisoned there because they dared to picket Woodrow Wilson's White House for the right to vote.
For weeks, the women's only water came from an open pail. Their food -- all of it colorless slop--was infested with worms. When one of the leaders, Alice Paul, embarked on a hunger strike, they tied her to a chair, forced a tube down her throat and poured liquid into her until she vomited. She was tortured like this for weeks until word was smuggled out to the press.
So, refresh my memory. Some women won't vote this year because -- why, exactly? We have carpool duties? We have to get to work? Our vote doesn't matter? It's raining?
Last week, I went to a sparsely attended screening of HBO 's new movie 'Iron Jawed Angels.' It is a graphic depiction of the battle these women waged so that I could pull the curtain at the polling booth and have my say. I am ashamed to say I needed the reminder. All these years later, voter registration is still my passion. But the actual act of voting had become less personal for me, more rote. Frankly, voting often felt more like an obligation than a privilege. Sometimes it was inconvenient.
My friend Wendy, who is my age and studied women's history, saw the HBO movie, too. When she stopped by my desk to talk about it, she looked angry. She was -- with herself. 'One thought kept coming back to me as I watched that movie,' she said. 'What would those women think of the way I use -- or don't use -- my right to vote? All of us take it for granted now, not just younger women, but those of us who did seek to learn.' The right to vote, she said, had become valuable to her 'all over again.'
HBO released the movie on video and DVD. I wish all history, social studies and government teachers would include the movie in their curriculum. I want it shown on Bunco night, too, and anywhere else women gather. I realize this isn't our usual idea of socializing, but we are not voting in the numbers that we should be, and I think a little shock therapy is in order.
It is jarring to watch Woodrow Wilson and his cronies try to persuade a psychiatrist to declare Alice Paul insane so that she could be permanently institutionalized. And it is inspiring to watch the doctor refuse. Alice Paul was strong, he said, and brave. That didn't make her crazy.
The doctor admonished the men: 'Courage in women is often mistaken for insanity.'
Please, if you are so inclined, pass this on to all the women you know.
We need to get out and vote and use this right that was fought so hard for by these very courageous women. Whether you vote Democratic, Republican or independent party -- remember to vote.
History is being made.

One more thing... vote by something real - not an attack ad.

I'm Published! (aka Mabel)

The title link is the Ravelry pattern page. OK, so I'm a little excited. It's my first ever pattern and one of the first things I have made up pretty much on my own. :)
This is the direct PDF download. I will keep it updated with the errata as I figure it out... I just hope it's not too confusing. I can barely *read* crochet patterns, let alone write them!

Knock, Knock...

Who's there?
Bob.
Knock, Knock!
Who's there?
Bob.
Knock, Knock!
Who's there?
Ty! And we're going knock your house down!



Michael is in bright yellow shorts and Ty was in a grey shirt and green pants. I don’t know any of the others.
We arrived right as the cheering started and literally, we were there in the nick of time! Dory loved it even though she tripped getting out there and again when going back to the bus. FIL was supposed to go with or keep Jack at the house, but his car broke this morning so after having talked to Dory about it for two days, I loaded them both up and just did it. It would have been much better the two of us, but well… eh. Still worth it.
Nope, I didn’t meet him. But, we were there to see the house come down - you know, in the name of homeschooling! ;)

In my absence

I found a new band love. On NPR on the way home 2 nights ago I heard these guys. Bought the album last night.


White Winter Hymnal from Grandchildren on Vimeo.

I had a good amount of time to listen since I was on my way home from Mom's house. Tricia, Mom and I had gotten together for the day to sit around the table, eat and just be us. It was wonderful. We got a little bit of work done, like Tricia trimmed Mom's hair and Tricia got a small back rub... but overall, it was boring hours of around the table bliss. I put my first heel in a sock... badly. I forgot to take a picture, and have already ripped it out for a do over. I am considering it the practice heel. (short row for those of you who are wondering)

Anyway, about twilight Tricia headed out and I had Mom show me her garden. We watched for mosquitoes, and never saw any, but she was right... apparently I was found 5 times. *sigh* I'm still feeling the visit. In looking around though, it struck me how much the land had changed from what I remember as a child. The pasture where we raised a few cows is now an overgrown forest. The barn where we kept chickens is being torn apart by vines and encroaching trees. The front end is already gone. The church pew on the front porch is gone as is the old apple tree. In it's place in the back yard several full grown trees have made an appearance. It struck me that telling John and the kids stories of my childhood are just as much a far away place as his stories. They say you can't go home again. I guess it's really true, in the sense that the land I knew so very well is completely changed in my absence.

My new friend, Amber (who I met via an Etsy purchase from her husband), and I were talking a few weeks ago about her homeschooling her 5 boys and about how she takes them to the park to explore... not for the nature center or playground, but to have a sense of place, a knowledge of a place, to know the land and how it changes with the seasons. I realized that I had that growing up in York, almost by accident. I knew all of the back yard. The grape vines and the scuppernongs, the blackberry bush where the rabbits family lived. It's all gone. You could see the pond, but now the view is completely blocked. Somewhere in there Happy 2 is buried along with Dutchess. Happy 3 is under the pecan tree by the house. The cats always ran off to die a dignified death on their own. Time changes, moves on. You really can't go back. Kids grow up. They wean. First from the breast, and then from your home.

I'll stop boring you now with my looking behind me. It's time to look forward again.

And Now For Something Completely Different

I have also learned from Sitemeter...

That my gluten free post that also talked about poor Jack's poo is an international beacon for google searches for "Dirty Mommy". LMAO. Wow. Seriously.

And someone has me subscribed to via Bloglines, I think.

Fascinating, absolutely fascinating.

ADD 5/6 3:15:
And someone just made a google image search for 'first blood' and looked at Jack's bloody nose.... anything can be dirty I guess. Good grief guys!

The Story of Stuff

http://www.storyofstuff.com/

Watch it.

Splat

A bird committed suicide in our yard today... on the kitchen window. Oddly enough there is no body, just feathers. The light spot on the window impression of the pigeon is indeed a stuck feather from the impact. There are no less than 3 feather piles around the yard, if the bird made if off, it was at least nekked.

My Cup

Doreen had a blogging friend ask about favorite coffee cups. I have been intending to post one for awhile, a very small blue crystalline glazed thrown piece of beautiful pottery I bought once when out at a pottery show with Gail a few years back. I use it all the time and think about how I have 3 handmade pottery coffee/tea cups and would love more, all different.

Yesterday I went to the American Craft Council's Charlotte 2007 show with Gail. We had a wonderful time, and I set out looking for a new mug. I found one, a beautiful earthy one, that has an incredible texture and is unique. One side is more reddish, coppery in color, the other side is more grey blue like slate. There is even a hint of green where they meet. The lip flares out nicely, and I don't dribble. The handle is very comfortable, thick on top and melts away between my pinky and ring finger. Best of all, it's large; it's nearly 2xs the size of my other regular mugs.

I've used it for 24 hours now, and it rightfully holds a place among my favorites. It reminds me of a great time out with Gail, reminds me to be creative and unique, and always reminds me of the 'Great Potter' and that I am His clay.

The potter:
http://www.allamakeewoodfiredpottery.com/

A Mean Mom's Halloween Revenge

The link from the title is an eBay auction from a fellow Charlotte Mommy. She's shocked at the response, everyone is cheering her on and at the moment, I was the 2125th view. Go Momma!!!!! I think it is wonderful.

Quote of the week.

"Fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism because it is a merger of state and corporate power."
- Benito Mussolini

Breast Crawl

Is it soap?

I think I am in love....

I found them this morning on Noggin of all places. I hope this video is not pulled... one of the other Noggin posts was! The kids running around and dancing is awesome.These guys were apparently trained at Julliard. They rock.

NCFOM

North Carolina Friends of Midwives has introduced legislation to legalize Certified Professional Midwives here in North Carolina. NCFOM has worked very hard to put together a good bill that should not affect lay midwives or current status of Certified Nurse Midwives. I too hope that the midwife we choose for Jack's birth can soon practice legally here in NC. We had a very safe uneventful birth, but her legalization would have made any transports to the hospital even safer for the baby and I should something had gone wrong. It didn't, and we are thankful. Statistics, clear unmuddled ststistics, show that for a low risk birth, homebirthing is SAFER than a homebirth. NC-- Please legalize my CPM!!!