julifolo's Journal

4:06pm: CLCU Sale report: grinning
Well, the plan worked. It would have been better if I had been better producing new necklaces through the year -- my summer sales at the Saturday Markets would have been better -- but the working trip to Seattle (& visit Fran) was productive. More than half of the necklaces I made there or on the bus sold -- and almost all the special ones. So I've justified claiming the travel expenses as business expenses; plus income enough to balance not selling much at Reenactorfest last February (where we paid for 3 nights in the hotel).

Other good things were the weather--which was just perfect. We had a lot of people, even on Sunday. Beverly came up with a good advertising idea which seemed to work: reusable yard signs saying "Air Fair Sat-Sun", and some businesses like the Food Coop agreed to put up signs. Unlike last year, I had a 7 ft space instead of 3 ft and could use one of the 6 ft tables. Paying more money for more space was well worth it -- I think this was my best sales ever at the show. I also got Folo's advice on what to wear. My first choice, the blouse clashed with my red sweater. (It's like the sweater is invisible for me: the color doesn't count, it's just for warmth. Well, no.) Plus I sent out 28 invitations from my mailing list.

I started out with about 80 or 85 necklaces, and sold 24 -- and a lot of seed bead bracelets. (One of my customers I sent an invite to bought $60 worth of bracelets at $2.50 each.) I think I sold 1/4 of my entire stock, which is kind of unheard of for me. Hopefully I can get back into the good designing zone I got to in Seattle. I'll be doing a smaller show (several people doing home/studio shows with multiple artists at each place) first weekend in December.

7:35pm: briefly
The strike ended, Tuesday evening. I've been busy getting ready for the Craft League sale tomorrow & sunday, hoping to sell lots of necklaces. The GEO got tuition waiver security & the usual suspects were decrying how aweful they were to strike and how they're ungrateful sots for not working less-than-poverty wages without complaint. pffft

9:14am: More GEO: why the out-of-state tuition wavier is important
When I expressed GEO support to Eleanor (supervisor) she said her niece (?) had to pick an in state school becaue she couldn't afford out os state. Now I've got a reply: the faculty want the out of state waiver so they can attract the best students, important for diversity of scholarship, and impacts on future recruiting of best scholars. From the Faculty Union [unrecognized by the UoI]: "Giving in on this key issue, however, risks transforming the character of campus departments, as areas capable of winning outside grants to fund tuition payments would get the maximum support, while others might face downsizing or elimination. The corporate university would trump the faculty's role in shaping the curriculum."

--The UoI is acting increasingly "corporate" these days.

9:29am: Strike
There's a G.E.O. (Graduate Employee Organization) strike at the University of Illinois. I'm in AFSCME, so I'm wearing my AFSCME t-shirt in support. Luckily, the Main Library didn't get a picket line so I didn't turn around and go home (which is what I was going to do -- I have vacation time).

However, Gregory Hall is being picketed and there's a lot of noise happening, through the closed windows. It would be even louder for the classrooms in Greg, for those teachers who didn't cancel classes (some did cancel). I suppose that's the point. One of the faculty supporters at the Thursday rally said: "It's going to be inconvenient. Convenient strikes don't work."

The statement from the University Administration, of course, is saying this & that, & doing a "good" spin. OtOH, 92% of the union members voted "yes" on the strike authorization vote, saying they trusted the negotiating team. 92% -- I don't know all the details, but I'll trust that.

6:33pm: Being a woman compared to being a smoker
here:

http://www.dailykos.com/comments/2009/11/7/101418/596/253#c253

The above links to a seven-second clip. To put the clip in context, here's a larger section of the debate, transcribed (bolded is what's in the clip):

In promoting the House health bill, New Jersey Democrat Frank Pallone made reference to discrimination by insurance companies, citing their reluctance to insure people with preexisting conditions and differences in costs based on gender. "But that's not against the law," Texas Republican Pete Sessions said.

Pallone replied, "No, but we would make it against the law. Why do you have a problem with that?" he asked. "Why should a woman pay more than a man?"

"Well, we're all different," Sessions explained. "Why should a smoker pay more-?," he said before getting interrupted by a burst of chatter throughout the room.

... so it's women's fault that insurance companies want to charge them more for insurance, and men shouldn't lose their discounts. In other words, it would be unfair for men to lose their discounts, in the same way it would be unfair to make it illegal for a nonsmoker to get a discount.

9:54pm: Frustrating weather
Cold, cloudy, windy day at the market today: no sales. Lisa (in charge of the Market) was hoping the sun would come out at 9am -- but it only would do so for a few minutes at a time, and not very frequently until it was almost time to pack up. At least two people started to shop, looking at the new stuff, but then the wind started blowing again & it was too cold. Hopefully I will see them at the CLCU sale in November. There's two more market Saturdays, both free. I may show up to one or the other (if now rain/wind) to hand out postcards for the show.

1:16pm: Vacation report (it's a working vacation)
I've had fun visiting with Fran in Seattle. I've also gotten many necklaces made for the CLCU show (& Saturday market when I get home). I'm taking the bus ticket as a business expense, & I think that's justified: I've made many more necklaces in the last several days (starting prep work the evening of Fri 9th) than I have the rest of the year!

It takes me a while to get into the grove. ( ... ) I got two necklaces done on the bus, and I'm finishing necklace no. 23 at Fran's house ( ... )We still got to do some tourist things (Pike's Market, a one hour harbor tour yesterday) and family errands. (Two of four grand-kids were here over the weekend).

If it doesn't rain, I'll be at the Market Saturday. It's going to be cold (low 38, high 45) and the forecast is alternating between "no" & "few" showers. I've got something new I might try, if I get the rest of the way ready Friday after Folo picks me up from the bus station: one of my toys is a large stash of quilt fabric ... which should be weeded. Since anything I sell at the Market has to be something I made, I needed to figure out something to do with the quarter yards & fat quarters that qualified as "something Julie made" ... when the real goal is to sell the fabric to other people who like scrap quilting. ( ... )

Basically, in order for me to get productive, it works best if I have planning time, then work up gradually to the fancy designs. The first designs I did were the simplest -- restringing a few necklaces that needed small alterations, then a couple of designs that I'd pulled out last year but hadn't done because they weren't that inspiring, then I was able to do some of my special beads justice (focus beads I bought from Athan or Jael or Melinda) plus some jasper fans & such. I still need to stock up on garnet and/or pearl standards when I get back home, but I'll be more in practice.

7:03am: Guardian (UK) : Revealed: millions spent by lobby firms fighting Obama health reforms
How much of this money has been written off as "business expenses"?
Any time there's a report of "how much profit", remember how much salaries & advertising & lobbying costs were deducted from the gross dollars before profit was figured ...

Revealed: millions spent by lobby firms fighting Obama health reforms
Six lobbyists for every member of Congress as healthcare industry heaps cash on politicians to water down legislation
* Chris McGreal in Washington
* guardian.co.uk, Thursday 1 October 2009 16.55 BST

excerpt

"What the bill has done is use the coercive power of the state to force people to hand their money over to a private entity which is the private insurance industry. That is not what people were promised."

If there's mandates that everyone has to have insurance or pay a fine and there's no public option, there's going to be mutiny.

7:12am: Domestic Violence Shouldn't Be a 'Pre-Existing Condition'
One more example of why we need healthcare reform (which includes full coverage for women)(ie, no "abortion restrictions" ... which, besides being misogynist, would be used as an attack against contraception)

Here's the article:

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_09/019948.php

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE SHOULDN'T BE A 'PRE-EXISTING CONDITION'.... Just when it seemed private health insurers couldn't appear any less sympathetic, we learn a little more about their coverage practices. Ryan Grim reported this jaw-dropper late yesterday.

With the White House zeroing in on the insurance-industry practice of discriminating against clients based on pre-existing conditions, administration allies are calling attention to how broadly insurers interpret the term to maximize profits.

It turns out that in eight states, plus the District of Columbia, getting beaten up by your spouse is a pre-existing condition.

Under the cold logic of the insurance industry, it makes perfect sense: If you are in a marriage with someone who has beaten you in the past, you're more likely to get beaten again than the average person and are therefore more expensive to insure.

In human terms, it's a second punishment for a victim of domestic violence.

... apparently this has been true for a long time and a couple of attempts to write laws against the practice have failed, but I wasn't aware of it.

7:39am: Ghost fleet
Article & lots a pictures here:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/moslive/article-1212013/Revealed-The-ghost-fleet-recession.html

Revealed: The ghost fleet of the recession
By Simon Parry
13th September 2009

The biggest and most secretive gathering of ships in maritime history lies at anchor east of Singapore. Never before photographed, it is bigger than the U.S. and British navies combined but has no crew, no cargo and no destination ...

8:56pm: A quote I agree with
all the below (including "NOTE:" comes from here:

http://www.dailykos.com/comments/2009/9/14/141413/104/229#c229
Pescadero Bill on Mon Sep 14, 2009 at 03:54:32 PM CDT

And let me stress that in the Constitution it is emphasized in the preamble that - We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

The Founders laid out the goals they saw as necessary for a perfect country, then the means to achieve them. That's why we have things like fire and police departments, and the military.

NOTE: Notice that "defense" wasn't capitalized and therefore wasn't meant to be as important as the other stated ideals. It's just too bad we spend half a trillion dollars a year propping up the MIC, rather using that money to prop up the health and wellbeing of our citizens and letting the MIC fight tooth and nail for every hundred million.

And you can bet your ass that if they had the available health care that we have today, they'd have started single payer from the get go in order to assure the country lived up to the stated goal of promoting the general "Welfare".

Thus, it is the only part of the stated goals of achieving a "more perfect Union" that the modern government has completely failed to deliver on. Simply because it became a game for profit.

6:49pm: Sad story (Ted Kennedy)
quoted here:

http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/26/two_lions_when_ted_kennedy_privately_honored_yitzh/?ref=fpblg

Professor Leonard Fein from Boston (of Americans for Peace Now) -- who has spent a lifetime struggling for Middle East peace -- offers this beautiful remembrance of Ted Kennedy today. He describes a small incident in Kennedy's long life but one that tells us a lot about the man.

"On the morning of the day before the funeral of Yitzhak Rabin, Senator Ted Kennedy called the White House to inquire if it was appropriate to bring to the burial some earth from Arlington National Cemetery. The answer was essentially a shrug: Who knows? Unadvised, the senator carried a shopping bag onto the plane, filled with earth he had himself dug the afternoon before from the graves of his two murdered brothers. And at Mount Herzl in Jerusalem, after waiting for the crowd and the cameras to disperse, he dropped to his hands and knees, and gently placed that earth on the grave of the murdered prime minister.

No spin, no photo op; a man unreasonably familiar with bidding farewell to slain heroes, a man in mourning, quietly making tangible a miserable connection."

link found from a comment here:
http://bitchphd.blogspot.com/2009/08/in-defense-of-privilege.html
which was pointed to in a post by telperion1.

11:13am: Randall Terry gets kicked out
Randall Terry, anti-abortionist, as warned there will be violence if U.S. healthcare reform includes funding abortions. He got kicked out of a town hall that included Howard Dean:

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/08/25/terry/

he was led out by police as he loudly accused Dean of murdering babies.

6:40pm: My new favorite Bruce Sprintstein song
(from Bellatrys, thank you!)

"Mrs. McGrath", a traditional irish folk song (anti-war). The rolling and interaction of the melody & rhyming words are perfect. -- which is why I'm not quoting here. Rhyming couplets, only 4 beats long (~7-12 sylables), and no forced rhymes. I suggest you go experience it cold. Wonderful performance!

the youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGwUrmNI6wY

the lyrics:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mrs._McGrath

4:50pm: Say what?
We're having a severe thunderstorm right now ... and the Library PA turns on with the announcement "The Library will be closing in ten minutes, at 5 o'clock".

I don't think so. I think the patrons are going to be standing behind the glass door and tell the man with the key that, no, they're not leaving till the rain stops. Hopefully the man with the key is in another building & will be late.

8:18pm: A Rescue the Heartland "pro-lifer" said this:

“A protection order is used to protect someone from real violence,” he said, “not to protect someone against First Amendment-protected actions.”

http://www.omaha.com/article/20090817/NEWS01/708179958/-1/FRONTPAGE

Now that Dr. Tiller has been assassinated, anti-abortion groups are planning to put additional pressure Dr. Carhart, who also performs late abortions, some at Dr. Tiller's former business. Anti-abortion groups mentioned in the article are

More from the Omaha World-Herald:

[Vanessa Klinetobe] makes the following claims in her petition for a protection order: Donlan once followed her home from work in 2006; he sent a letter to her home demanding that she resign or face protests near her Bellevue house; and he recently shouted outside the clinic: “Vanessa, you are next. We plan to exploit you.”

Donlan said Sunday that he knew nothing about the protection order and had not been served as of Sunday afternoon.

He denied any wrongdoing and said he was surprised because his group had been looking for alternative employment for Klinetobe. He did admit to following Klinetobe a few years back in his red van, but said it was only for a few blocks and to get an idea of where she lived for protest purposes.

Here's the apparent game plan, which, so far, is working well for Operation Rescue and fellow travelers: be obnoxious and verbally threating [legally, that's "assault"; if it becomes physical then it becomes "and battery"], get arrested or sued, counter sue and (since they have deep pockets full of money) win the countersuits. Thereby making legal precidents that their intimidation is acceptable behavior and protected speech -- even though an average sane person would consider yelling "baby killer" and following you home and publishing your address or such stuff harassment.

I don't want to shut down protests -- "free speech zones" 2 miles away from reporters of the last administration -- that's unacceptable. But there has to be a way to insist that "peaceful" protests are that -- peaceful. Also, local community standards (& anti-fraud) should prevent the mega "bloody fetus" posters -- the photos often of late miscarriages or photoshoped.

10:05pm: Christian pro-life activists ... and target shooting
See here:
http://www.covenantnews.com/newswire/archives/059382.html

emphasis added

Christian pro-life activists from the American Northwest are coming together for a strategy conference and family social in Bend, Oregon. Paul DeParrie was an ardent Christian activist who opposed abortion without compromise to his final breath.

Agenda:

8/28 (Friday evening): Arrive and camp out at group location.

8/29 (Saturday morning): Anti-abortion graphic sign demonstration in Bend. Afternoon: Outdoor target shoot. Evening: Strategy conference and social time (dinner provided by host). Campout.

8/30 (Sunday morning): Prayer and worship. Adjourn.

What to bring:

Everything you need to camp outside for two nights. Your own food or money for most meals. Your own graphic signs for demonstration (extras available for loan). Your own weapons and ammunition for target shoot (extras available for loan).

Contact the event organizer for the exact location coordinates:
...

Dr. Tiller was killed barely 2 months ago. Co-locating anti-abortion people and guns is organizers hoping to let it happen again on purpose.

the diary at Daily Kos had this comment
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/8/12/765788/-Anti-Abortionists-Feature-Target-Shooting-at-Their-Family-Campout

Can you imagine the MSM going apoplectic if a left wing group was doing this? OMGOHNOEZ! They're still babbling about Bill Ayers and the Weathermen from 40 freaking years ago

8:06am: Pennsic
Leaving in a half hour to catch the city bus to the Amtrak station. Hopefully there won't be too much more rain -- Folo's very tired of it, and he has more tolerance than I do.

But it sounds like lots of great people there & great conversations. And the backpack is not as overstuffed/heave as it usually is because I'm not bringing the bead boxes to work on necklaces. I'm working on hadwork instead -- my new linen gown. Weather permitting, we'll get back 10th August.

9:02pm: Not mine. The person who I got it from can't remember where she got it ...

The reportin' haiku

The food in my dish is old
and more to the point
contains no tuna.

---

I have my bus tickets to visit Fran in Seattle in October, hurrah! The advance purchase discount is (temporarly?) back -- it's 50% off -- and it's costing less than last year. It wasn't available when I checked end of April. So I bought it 3 mo early instead of 3 wk early just so I didn't get an unhappy surprize.

8:43am: BBC report: Cats 'exploit' humans by purring
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8147566.stm

Cats 'exploit' humans by purring
By Victoria Gill
Science reporter, BBC News

excerpt

"Cat owners may have suspected as much, but it seems our feline friends have found a way to manipulate us humans.

Researchers at the University of Sussex have discovered that cats use a "soliciting purr" to overpower their owners and garner attention and food.

Unlike regular purring, this sound incorporates a "cry", with a similar frequency to a human baby's. "

A purr can have two components. It's a neat description of the process & how they did the study.

Julie
Grinning

5:12pm: Good writing (Stonewall letter)
Found this here:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/06/26/DDOH18BVH7.DTL

quote

In the world before that night, we could not have done what we did. But that night we did. We finally stood up and said we have rights. To congregate. To dance. To mourn. To be left alone. Left alone to live, to love, to work, or just dance and listen to Garland sing.

11:41am: A modest suggestion (a recommended rant)
next time an anti-choice male starts making opinions known about how laws need to be made to restrict women's reproductive choices "for the sake of the babies".

see here

Just once I'd like to say to a smug self-righteous anti-choice male, "OK - you want to make abortion illegal, fine. You go ahead and make that choice on behalf of all women, and in return I'll make this one on behalf of all men: from here on out, all unmarried men who have reached puberty, living on American soil will be required to have a vasectomy, and all married men who have either had two children or who have been married ten years, will also be required to have a vasectomy. All we really need to do to eliminate abortions, after all, is to eliminate all that sperm floating around in this country. Oh, no. You don't like me making your healthcare decisions for you? But I though abortions were so evil - think about the unborn babies! Yeah, well, not so much if it means you have to get snipped? Then sit down and shut up you jackass, you don't give a damn about killing babies, it's all about controlling women."
I don't know that I'll ever have the opportunity, but I'd love to see the horror on the face of a fundy during this kind of a tirade.

7:49pm: Domestic Terrorism: Dr. Tiller murdered
I emerged form my hole (I've been making necklaces) to find an email from Planned Parenthood that Dr. Tiller was assasintated this morning.

He provided late term abortions in Kansas. The first, unsuccessful, attempt on his life happened 8 months into Clinton's presidency. When there's a Democratic president, hate radio goes up a notch.

Democrats in power, it will be terrorism against abortion, and terrorism against women. Expect more of this

Can't have women making decisions for themselves, no, no, no

12:47pm: A lawyer's comment on Prop 8 decision (that I hope is right)
Read page 36. They just cut Prop 8 to the bone.

That's an essay at Daily Kos. According to that interpretation, the Calif Supreme Court "as much as" said: the voters voted same-sex couldn't use the designation "marriage", but (according to the original Marriage decision that allowed the same-sex marriages -- it's Settled Law in California that it's discrimination to disallow legal recognition.
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/5/26/735571/-Read-page-36.-They-just-cut-Prop-8-to-the-bone.

By its terms, the new provision refers only to "marriage" and does not address the right to establish an officially recognized family relationship, which may bear a name or designation other than "marriage."

He also pointed out that the court could have interpreted the vote very broadly, but seemed to go to great length to interpret as narrowly as possible. Basically, the difference between "domestic partnerships" and "marriage", as far as legal rights, is still unconstitutional in California.

Many comments ensued, about just "scratch out marriage" on the forms. "Seriously, I think that the governments will be ordered to figure something out." & speculation that that S.F. administrators are doing exactly that. So it's ripe for a test case. Though, of course, better if it wasn't allowed to be voted on at all. (Other commenters were disagreeing -- it really will boil down to what happens when same sex couples demand licenses for "officially recognized family relationships". I'll be watching ...

They also said the inititive system is bad, but it isn't the court's role to fix it ... ?? (Judges, unfortunately, can be recalled) (I think the coward judge's original thought when they let the vote happen -- there was a suite that it would be an illegal vote -- was that the vote would fail & they'd be off the hook.)

7:55am: This is a crime that a hospital did
If we don't have marriage equity, it will happen again.
Note the part where the sympathetic nurse was acting against hospital policy

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/5/18/732663/-Tonight-we-said-goodbye-to-a-photograph

Tonight we said goodbye to a photograph
by Brubs
Sun May 17, 2009 at 11:54:06 PM CDT

[...]

Tonight, surrounded by his family, my best friend Kenneth took his last assisted breaths in a hospital known for its “compassion and care” in the area. His family held his hands and whispered their loving goodbyes while the life slipped from his body and he went to his rest. A sudden heart attack claimed him.

But someone was conspicuously absent…

In the parking lot, Bob, his partner of 26 years, said goodbye to a photograph. It was a photograph of he and Kenneth on vacation celebrating their honeymoon 6 years ago after having been “married” in a ceremony that meant nothing more than symbolism [...]

Bob carried that photograph in his wallet as a reminder of his relationship and what it meant to him. Tonight, he said goodbye to a smiling face in a picture because he had no legal right to be present to say goodbye to his loved one in person. So Bob sat in the parking lot in the passenger seat of my car and wondered the fate of the man he had given his love and life to. He held the only thing at that moment Kenneth’s family could not take away from him – that photograph.

The hospital, at the behest of Kenneth’s family, had banned Bob from Kenneth’s room, or seeing him in the hospital at all. 26 years treated as though they were mere passing acquaintances or work colleagues. Simply because Kenneth’s family could never accept their son’s orientation (NOT “lifestyle” as some refer to it).

Tonight, a nurse sympathetic to Bob’s situation and in violation of the hospital policies, came to the car window and delivered the news to Bob that Kenneth was gone. And Bob said his goodbyes and wishes of love and peace to a picture. A fucking photograph. Held to his chest as though he were holding his loved one in tears. Because that was all he had.

His partner is gone and his partner’s family took away the dignity that Bob had a right to as Kenneth’s lover, confidante, and lifemate to say goodbye. His husband. There, I said it. HUSBAND. WAS THAT SO SCARY [...]?