The Ladies' Man...

On June 23, Obama went to Albuquerque, and the light of his glorious salvation was shining brightly. It turns out, he supports equal pay for women! Who knew?

But wait! Generic pandering wasn't enough for our intrepid messiah...he makes promises galore to all those women who don't get a "square deal" in the workplace.

Settle in, dear readers....this is a long one, because I have a LOT to say about this particular load of crap. Marx himself would have been hard pressed to cram more socialist nonsense into a four minute video clip.

I'll just go through his points one by one, and if you can stand to watch the actual clip, it's here. My remarks are in bold and italicized, because, well, I feel pretty bold and italic-y about this.

1) Obama supports the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act, which would extend the limit on how long an employee can wait before suing an employer for pay discrimination. John McCain does not support it. Obviously, McCain doesn't think that women should be paid less, he just doesn't think they should be able to sue an employer after a certain amount of time. Of course, Obama the lawyer finds this perfectly reasonable stance to be reprehensible.

2) He doesn't believe that women should have to choose between their children and their careers. Boo hoo. Everyone has to make choices about their lives, some of them difficult. Why should women not be held responsible for the life decisions they make? Priorities, ladies....find them, use them.

3) Obama finds it unacceptable that women are denied promotions because they have children at home. Really? Well, I find it unacceptable that employers can't hire or promote whomever they feel can do the best job. The truth is, women who have children are unable and/or unwilling to devote the same amount of time and energy to a job that men can and/or will. Obviously, there are exceptions, but we are talking generalities here. (Oh, and by the way, this is sort of off topic, but if I had a dollar for every little thing Barack Obama finds "unacceptable", I'd be one of those top tier millionaires he wants to tax to death...)

Here's a list of all the perks he has lined up for working parents -- all in the name of fairness...

1) To help pay for child care, he'll expand the child care tax credit. Working folks will get a 50% credit for their child care expenses. Awesome! I get to pay for someone else's babysitting costs?! That's fair!

2) He'll double the funding for "after school programs". Which is the same as babysitting, but this time for older kids. Again, super fair!

3) He'll allocate 10 billion dollars to ensure everyone has access to quality pre-school programs. Jesus, how many euphemisms for babysitting can there be?

4) He'll expand the Family and Medical Leave Act to include small business with 25 employees. This will reach millions of Americans who are not currently covered. And force millions of small business owners to try to figure out how in the hell they're supposed to run a business without any freaking employees in the shop...

5) He'll guarantee 24 hours of annual leave so that parents can join in school activities with their children. That's sweet. Since I don't have kids, I'll just go ahead and spend my newly created time-off hanging out with the dogs. I'm sure that I'll also get 24 hours of paid leave...right?

6) He wants all of this forced leave to be PAID leave, and plans to put 1.5 billion dollars aside to fund it. You know, so that women won't be "punished" for getting sick. I guess it's more fair to punish the American taxpayer. I'm sure no one will try to abuse this system...only the people who really, really need it will ask for it.

7) Last but not least, he will raise the minimum wage. And force millions of businesses into bankruptcy. Or force them to raise prices to cover the cost of payroll. Either way, screw you, evil business man! You're finally getting what you deserve for giving all of those people jobs in the first place! Bwaaaa haaaa haaaa......

Oops, hold on -- wait a second, all of that is last week's news....this just in....June 30 headline from CNSnews.com:

Obama's for Equal Pay, Yet Pays Female Staffers Less Than Males

On average, women working in Obama's Senate office were paid at least $6,000 below the average man working for the Illinois senator. That's according to data calculated from the Report of the Secretary of the Senate, which covered the six-month period ending Sept. 30, 2007.

What about that meanie, John McCain?

Of his non-intern employees, 30 were women and 16 were men. After excluding interns, the average pay for the 30 women on McCain's staff was $59,104.51. The 16 non-intern males in McCain's office, by comparison, were paid an average of $56,628.83.

Hey....I have an idea! Before you start taking more of our money, Senator Obama, perhaps you should put YOUR money where your mouth is.

© Jana Ogletree 2008

Oh, Bubba...you're batsh*t crazy, but you still make me laugh!

Ahhhh, politics. Remember when I said that Bill Clinton's "endorsement" of Barack Obama sounded a bit sarcastic? Well, that wasn't the half of it! Check out this gem of an article from the Telegraph, which provides us with this awesome quote:

A senior Democrat who worked for Mr. Clinton has revealed that he recently told friends Mr. Obama could "kiss my ass" in return for his support.

Delicious!!

Here's your link.

© Jana Ogletree 2008

Surely, this is going too far....

I read an article today called "10 Things to Recycle That You Never Thought You Could". It's all about recycling stuff like old prom dresses and sneakers, used cell phones, architectural items, toothbrushes(?!), and foam packing peanuts.

Even though I think that people are going ridiculously overboard with the environmental stuff these days (seriously -- recycling toothbrushes??), I'm hangin' with them right up until I spy the inspiration for this post:

The hell?? Now, I admit that I don't know much about birthin' babies, nor do I know very much about their subsequent care. But, I feel fairly safe in saying that they probably shouldn't be taking a snooze on top of a bunch of packing peanuts in a cardboard box.

Of course, it's obvious they were just popped into that box for a quick nap, because everyone knows that while packing peanuts are fine for short-term baby storage, when mailing babies the only eco-approved packing material is recycled newspapers.....duh!

Here's your link.

© Jana Ogletree 2008

Another picture post....

I spent a few minutes this rainy morning making a Treasury on Etsy...oh, so pretty..... click on it for a closer look-see...

And here's one that someone else made featuring Stu's work....Stu gets featured in Treasuries a lot...because, you know, he's super talented! Again with the clicking, for a closer look....

Pictures Worth Thousands of Words....

I found a neat game on Flickr and it looked like fun...so....here's all about me in photo form.... because, you know, everyone wants to know more about me, me, me! Don't they? Whatever. Here's how you play:

• type your answer to each of the questions into Flickr search.
• using only the first page, choose an image.
• copy and paste each of the URL’s into the mosaic maker over at FD’s image maker.

1. First Name: JANA, 2. Favorite Food: MAC & CHEESE, 3. Hometown: Waxahachie, TX, 4. Favorite Color: GREEN, 5. Celebrity Crush: DWIGHT YOAKAM, 6. Favorite Drink: DR. PEPPER, 7. Dream Vacation: LONDON, 8. Favorite Dessert: CARROT CAKE, 9. What I Want To Be: CONTENT, 10. My Favorite Thing: DOGS, 11. I Am: ME, 12. Internet Alias: SPEAK DOG

It's fun! You should try it, too....

© Jana Ogletree 2008

Love is kind of crazy with a spooky little girl like you

In my profile, I mention that Stu and I live in a cute blue bungalow with a pink door. What I didn't mention is that our cute bungalow is haunted.

Yep. Our adorable bungalow came equipped with it's very own ghost. There's no way to be positive, but we are pretty sure ours is a girl ghostie. No real reason to think that, just the vibe we get. So, we always refer to our ghost as "she".

When we first moved into the house, we started ripping out the downstairs bathroom. Ghostie wasn't too happy about that, and we had a few weird occurrences.

Once we finished the project, though, she seemed pleased that we were *restoring* the house as opposed to doing horrible *remodeling* projects like the botched design nightmare that we faced when we moved in....yikes. (Someday I'll post some before and after pictures.) I'm sure she was mortified when some of those atrocities were committed.

So, now she only screws around with us every once in a while, just to be funny. You know, hiding my keys when I'm late for work, or freaking the dogs out by floating around at the top of the stairs.

Anyway. I tell you that story to tell you this one:

Tonight I was watching "Next Design Star" on HGTV. The challenge was to redecorate four identical living rooms in a Tennessee mansion. Which was haunted. Throughout the episode, lots of weird things happened that they attributed to the ghost. When one of the rooms was being shown to the judges at the end of the show, one of the light sconces fell off of the wall. For no apparent reason. I thought to myself, "Hmmm, their ghostie has the same sense of humor as ours."

Then, the rim of our hall light fixture fell off of the ceiling. For no apparent reason.

That fixture's been up for a while. And tonight, the rim of the fixture fell. off.

Both of the dogs have gone upstairs and won't come back down.

Eerie? Yeah. Pretty freakin' eerie. But, I've got to give her props for some awesome comedic timing.


© Jana Ogletree 2008

Really, Bill....that's ok...we've got it....

Bill Clinton has offered to help Barack Obama get elected. This may be the best news Republicans have heard in weeks. If Bubba "helps" Obama like he "helped" Hillary, McCain may as well just go ahead and take the oath of office now.

I'm sure Bill will bring to Obama's campaign all of the arsenal that he brought to Hillary's. Racial slurs, insults about experience (or lack thereof), temper tantrums, bringing up embarrassing issues after they've finally faded away....why, I'm positively giddy at the idea of Bill being an active participant in Obama's campaign.

Here are some highlights from the USA Today article:

Bill Clinton extended his support to Obama for the first time Tuesday in a one-sentence statement from spokesman Matt McKenna. "President Clinton is obviously committed to doing whatever he can and is asked to do to ensure Senator Obama is the next president of the United States," McKenna said.

Now there's a ringing endorsement! His statement actually sounds a little sarcastic. But maybe that's because he didn't even bother to say it himself -- he sent a flunky to do it. That Bill.....he's such a scamp.

Someone should warn Bill that protective eye wear may be helpful when he finally does meet with Team Obama. Apparently, Michelle's not a fan:

Bill Clinton wasn't the only spouse on edge over the competition. Obama's wife, Michelle, said of the former president in an interview with The New Yorker magazine, "I want to rip his eyes out!" before adding, "Kidding!"

One of Obama's strategists wins the award for understatement of the year:

"The downside, as we saw in the primary, is that it's a little roll of the dice. But I think it's worth the risk."

Having Bill join in the fray may be Hillary's secret weapon in her quest to sabotage Obama and set herself up for 2012.

Yep. This should be fun.

Here's your link.


© Jana Ogletree 2008

Fancy new subscription box!

Check out my new uptown, fancy e-mail subscription box! Just enter your address in the box and the magical Internet will deliver new posts right to your mailbox! The box is on the right hand side, just under the Etsy shops....

Or, you can subscribe to the RSS feed -- that link is at the bottom right, under the hit counter.

Maybe France will ask us to the prom!

Hallelujah!

Finally, FINALLY, Will Smith can stop hiding in shame. He can be proud to be an American again. Why? Because during his recent trip to Europe, they didn't throw rocks at him.

According to this world traveller, the Europeans are actually starting to like Americans. What could cause this sudden change of heart? Silly reader, do you really need to ask? Like all good things in the universe, this new found European love has been brought to us by our saviour, Barack Obama. It's because Barack Obama is a candidate in the upcoming election. So, why would Europeans love an Obama presidency?

Willie's theory involves a lot of blathering about Barack's "core" and something about the Constitution oozing from his pores. Think I'm joking? Alas, I am not -- see for yourself .

Personally, I think the reason they've decided to let the American outcasts sit at the cool kid's table is because the European weasels just can't wait for Obama to drag us down, down, down into the same Socialist nightmare they live in.

And if he is elected, you may rest assured that he will do so in record time. But hey! At least the French will love us! That's enough to ease my burdened heart.

Here's your link.


© Jana Ogletree 2008

New earrings listed!

I recently listed some new earrings in my Etsy shop...check them out if you need some pretty new sparklies for summer!

While you do that, I'll take the dogs for a walk. The weather is unbelievably beautiful this week!

A Yankee Doodle Dimwit

What do most people do on the Fourth of July? They go to the beach, have cookouts, see the newest blockbuster movies, play frisbee or throw the football around. They go hiking, camping, biking, water skiing, kayaking, fishing, horseback riding, and more.

What they generally don't do is watch political town hall meetings. Which is presumably why Barack Obama has responded to McCain's challenge to conduct joint town hall meetings by suggesting that, instead of the ten that McCain wants, to do just one. ON THE FOURTH OF JULY.

McCain, who is behind Obama in some national polls, has proposed a series of 10 weekly sessions leading up to the presidential nominating conventions. Obama campaign manager David Plouffe countered Friday with a plan for two pre-convention encounters: a town hall over the Fourth of July and "an in-depth debate on foreign policy" in August.

Seriously, that is pathetic. Why won't he agree to these town hall meetings? Obviously no one really seriously expects him to do ten of them, but his compromise is to do one town hall and one debate on foreign policy?

My goodness, one might almost be led to believe that he can't think on his feet and doesn't want to be in a situation that isn't scripted by his loyal disciples.

Here's your link.

© Jana Ogletree 2008

Extreme Makeover - Canine Edition

Our dog Groo is a Keeshond/Sheltie mix. He has a thick, wooly undercoat that makes him really hot and uncomfortable in the summer. So, we decided to give him a new summer 'do.

Before:



After:



I'm not entirely sure that's our dog. In fact, I'm not entirely sure that's a dog at all.

21 years ago today...

Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!

Check, please!

So, after years and years of losing millions of dollars, the Senate has finally decided to privatize the restaurants that serve them. It seems that the restaurants on the Senate side of the street were serving crappy food and providing lousy service. At the same time, the workers at said restaurants were receiving higher wages than the norm and were guaranteed their jobs.

Hmmmm, seems like a recipe for disaster. (heh, recipe...I kill me...)

Anyway, after lots of debate and feuding, the Senate has finally agreed to privatize their food service operations. The House privatized their restaurants back in the 1980's and their food service operations actually turn a profit every year and have delivered over $1 million in commissions to the House.

Of course, lots of Democrats blathered about how the current workers would be fired and the new workers would probably make less money. That's the whole point of having a government job!! Don't the Senators who want a decent meal and think that the taxpayers shouldn't have to subsidize it know that those poor restaurant workers will actually have to find a job and keep it based on their merit and work performance? HORRORS!

Part of the problem the general public has in dealing with government workers is that the aforementioned workers provide poor service, yet are never fired for incompetence and are, in fact, overpaid for the positions they hold. (See: US Postal Service) Now the Senate is getting a taste of their own government medicine.

So, Dianne Feinstein made a presentation May 7, and said that if the cafeterias weren't turned over to a private contractor, the prices would go up 25% across the board.

Bingo! Magic words! The prospect of paying more money for the same crappy food & service is a catalyst for epiphany. Senators suddenly realize the wisdom of privatizing the restaurants. They suddenly recognize that the government doesn't have any business operating restaurants.

If only they could figure out the same thing about federal involvement in schools, health care and package delivery.

Here's your link:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/08/AR2008060801765.html?hpid=topnews


© Jana Ogletree 2008

Just as I suspected...

While waiting for paint to dry (literally), I've been taking online quizzes. Results of all are below. Click the links under each one if you want to take the quizz, too.

Left brain -vs- Right Brain -- who's the winner?

You Are 55% Left Brained, 45% Right Brained

The left side of your brain controls verbal ability, attention to detail, and reasoning. Left brained people are good at communication and persuading others. If you're left brained, you are likely good at math and logic. Your left brain prefers dogs, reading, and quiet. The right side of your brain is all about creativity and flexibility. Daring and intuitive, right brained people see the world in their unique way. If you're right brained, you likely have a talent for creative writing and art. Your right brain prefers day dreaming, philosophy, and sports.

Are You Right or Left Brained?

Recipe for Jana:

The Recipe For jana

3 parts Creativity 2 parts Dignity 1 part Fascination Splash of Charm Finish off with a squeeze of lime juice

What's the Recipe for Your Personality?

My dominant intelligience (I like the sounds of that!):

Your Dominant Intelligence is Linguistic Intelligence

You are excellent with words and language. You explain yourself well. An elegant speaker, you can converse well with anyone on the fly. You are also good at remembering information and convincing someone of your point of view. A master of creative phrasing and unique words, you enjoy expanding your vocabulary. You would make a fantastic poet, journalist, writer, teacher, lawyer, politician, or translator.

What Kind of Intelligence Do You Have?

Here's no surprise:

Your Vote Score: 66% Republican, 34% Democrat

While you don't always agree with the Republican party, it's a pretty good match for you. Do be sure to research each candidate. A conservative Democrat or independent candidate might fit you better at times.

Should You Vote Republican or Democrat?

I'm a rare treasure:

Your Personality is Somewhat Rare (ISFP)

Your personality type is caring, peaceful, artistic, and calm. Only about 7% of all people have your personality, including 8% of all women and 6% of all men You are Introverted, Sensing, Feeling, and Perceiving.

How Rare Is Your Personality?

Okay, even I'm bored with the self-examination of me. Go take some fun tests of your own, and I'll put on a second coat of polyurethane!

Oh, so true sometimes...

I feel like this some days....

Homework....

I've got lots of home improvement projects in the works this weekend, so instead of writing a proper post, I'm going to be a lazy blogger. Click here to enjoy Jonah Goldberg's column.

It's much funnier than anything I could write on such a muddled weekend.

Enjoy!

Get Thee Behind Me, Trinity United....

So, Barack Obama's decided to quit his church of 20 years.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who noticed that this was done on a Saturday afternoon when not that many people are paying attention to the news. Obama's taking a page from the Clinton playbook and dropping a bombshell over the weekend, hoping that it'll mostly blow over by Monday.

But that's neither here nor there. Let's talk about quitting the church. Why did he decide to quit? Was it because the basic tenets of the church are considered by many to be racist? Because his long-time friend and mentor, Dr. Jeremiah Wright, has been preaching hatred from the pulpit for the last 20 years? Maybe because he didn't want his children exposed to the abhorrent prejudice being taught there?

Nope. None of those things bothered him until they were brought forward in the press and made public.

And even now, he refuses to admit that the words screamed from that pulpit were vile and disgusting. He still insists that it's just a "cultural and stylistic gap" that makes it difficult for people to understand the "black church". Whatever the hell that means.

The primary reason he gives for quitting now is that he doesn't want the church subjected to the rigors of a presidential campaign. So, he basically broke up with Trinity United using the old "it's not you, it's me" routine. A little weaselly, I think.

He also stated that he doesn't want the words of the church speakers imputed to him. Boo-hoo, how unfair. The reason the words are imputed to him is because he sat there and listened to those words for 20 years! It's hard to claim that you don't agree with the fundamental beliefs of a church you have voluntarily attended (as an adult) for 20 years.

When this whole mess was dragged into the open, he said he'd never heard any controversial sermons from Wright. Then he said, oops, maybe he HAD heard some controversial sermons, but he couldn't disown Wright because he was like an uncle. Then, when Wright surfaced again, he actually did disown him because Wright disrespected him. Yet another time he claimed that he belonged to the church because he enjoyed the fellowship of the other members, not because of Jeremiah Wright. Well, in the videos we've seen, all of the people in the church are clapping and shouting "AMEN" after these racially charged rants. What are we to make of that?

Throughout all of the flip-flopping and the maneuvering and the squirming of this political Twister game, he's never once just come right out and said that Trinity United Church is a bigoted organization and that he doesn't want to be a part of it's message of hate and victimization.

Many people want to make this about the views of Jeremiah Wright, or about the views of Michael Pfleger as if they are just passing acquaintances. They want to say that Obama can't be held responsible for the words of someone he barely knows. The problem with that argument is that these men aren't distant satellites in the Obamaverse. These are men he has referred to as his spiritual mentors. They were advisers to his campaign. He attended Wright's church for 20 years, donated large sums of his personal funds to Trinity United and funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars to Pfleger's church when he was a state senator. That makes it hard to believe that he doesn't support the messengers AND the message.

If you can stand it, these three youtube videos contain the press conference in it's entirety. There's lots of talking, but I think it's just as important to note what's not said.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=mH4orJm2lWw

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Flz1h3GG_hM&feature=related

http://youtube.com/watch?v=KWELlMuRez4&feature=related

If you'd prefer to just read a transcript of the Q&A, here's a link:
http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2008/05/obama_on_quitting_trinity_unit.html

© Jana Ogletree 2008