Merry Christmas! I’ve saved my most festive holiday color for last. I’ve had such fun making these themed frankens, and I hope you have enjoyed them!

I used Color Club Sex Symbol silver glitter, and LA Colors Art Deco in red glitter and green glitter.

I added in 1/4 each of Sex Symbol and Art Deco red glitter. The green glitter is a bit more sheer, so I added 1/2 of that to balance out the density of the red.

As you can see, the red is still the dominate color here, but the silver and green glitter shows up nicely. I think even Rudolph would be pleased with this color!

I wish you all a very happy holiday, and hope Santa brings you some awesome goodies!

We are down to the wire now! Christmas is only two days away, and I just happen to have two more holiday frankens to show you!

Now, I’m sure there is a polish somewhere already named “Christmas Tree”, but I couldn’t name my franken anything else. I even tried to think up alternate names, but “Christmas Tree” really seemed to fit!

For my “Christmas Tree”, I used Maybelline Emerald Waters, China Glaze L8RG8R, China Glaze Sexagon, and Holographic pigment from Coastal Scents.

I poured just slightly less than 1/3 of each polish into an empty bottle, then added 2 teaspoons of holo pigment.

The holo glitter reminds me so much of tiny, sparkling Christmas lights!

Now, this was actually a franken I made a few years back for Christmas. I loved it so much that I wanted to recreate it on my blog. It’s the perfect Christmas color!

I have one more beautiful holiday franken coming up, so check back tomorrow!

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas! Well, here in NY, at least! We’ve finally been hit with snow…which, to be honest, I’m not fond of. But at least it looks pretty for the holidays!

For this one, I used Revlon Sweet Nothings in Rendez-Blue, Taylor Made pigment in Polar, and fine silver glitter from TKB Trading.

I filled an empty bottle 3/4 full of Rendez-Blue, (which was pretty much the entire bottle) then added in 1 teaspoon of Polar pigment, and 1 tablespoon of silver glitter.

I love that this chilly blue has a hint of purple flash, giving it that below-zero-freeze-look. The tiny silver microglitter is subtle, like a tiny flurry of snowflakes!

I have a couple more holiday colors I am going to try and squeeze in before Christmas, so check back very soon!

Here it is 2:20 am and I am just beginning to write for tonight. It lends itself, as many of you know, to my offering my opinions on something rather than a well researched article. Tonight will be no exception. I ate up over an hour of the night watching the health care debates in the Senate on CSPAN, and then watching them pass a cloture vote 60-40 to end debate on the additions to the health care bill from Senator Reid. Then I spent an hours discussing health care on facebook with a few of Rani’s friends, while simultaneously being insulted by another friend of hers. It was quite comical as he continued to spout that I was stupid, ignorant, uninformed, and talking out my ass. He accused me of being a Republican, perhaps the biggest insult of the night, and summed up my invitation to the other two to come and debate here by saying that any asshole can write a blog. What he never did was offer a single fact for debate. Not one. The entirety of his argument was that I was a stupid Republican and my writing a blog doesn’t mean anything (the one point that I agree with). I don’t imagine he will attempt to come here and engage any of us here. But I certainly hope that he does…

At any rate I watched the debate and saw nothing but party rhetoric from both sides. I obviously was more supportive of the Republicans in this case because I don’t want this health care bill. It is a bad bill. What I found interesting was that the insults thrown around at me tonight were exactly the same things being thrown around in the Senate. And I find it appalling that this is what the American citizen has fallen to. Allow me to expound on some of what I saw in the Senate tonight, and pepper in a few comments from my personal debates for the evening.

Before I begin, allow me to say something about the opinions here. The person who attacked me led out with an extensive resume recitation that was apparently meant to say that he was far smarter than I, and that he had the degrees and experience to back it up. I think that we can all agree that if there is one thing that we have all learned on this site, it is that the level of education is not the determining factor for what someone knows. We have all ranges of education here. Folks with PhD’s, all the way to folks who are high school dropouts. Yet everyone has something important to add to the conversation. Experience working in government gives you a unique perspective, but so does working as a street sweeper. What is important in our debates is the ability to think with critical thought. Nothing else matters. Critical thought is the key to understanding your position, its strengths and weaknesses, and analyzing the positions of others. I have seen comments on this site that folks like BF, JAC, PeterB, Mathius, or myself are far “smarter” and therefore understand things better. I say bulldookey.

What makes those folks credible is that they think critically, and stick to values and principles. They attempt to eliminate contradictions in thinking. THAT, my friends, is what I feel makes the readership of this blog, every one of you, unique in the world of political discourse. Every reader who has stuck around on this site has done so because they are critical thinkers and willing to hear out the other side of any issue. I thank you all for that. It is what makes my time here valuable as opposed to an argument where the only argument against me is that I am “stupid”.

I led off my watching with John McCain, who bashed the President for his campaign promise broken that discussions and deliberations about health care reform would be open, televised, and transparent. I absolutely am with John on this. The sheer magnitude of back room deals done to get this bill passed has been abhorrent. Far from being the most transparent legislation passed, as the President promised, it is perhaps the most secretive legislation I recall ever seeing. Closed door sessions, payoffs to AARP, big pharma, Congress members (most notably the deals for LA and NE members). And cap that off with sessions called at midnight and votes completed at 1:00 am. Everything about this bill points to legislation that the party in power is determined to get passed before the American public has the opportunity to read it and see what a absolute failure of a bill it will be.

That was followed by Senator Harkin from Iowa. I have to say I heard nothing from him besides the liberal rhetoric. He said Republicans are in disarray and the party of no because they haven’t offered an alternative solution. A few thoughts on this. First, Republicans aren’t going to waste hundreds of hours writing a bill that has zero chance of passage in a Senate that has 60 votes against it. Second, not having an alternative bill is not a valid reason to vote for this bill. If jumping off a cliff is the option at hand, you don’t vote yes simply because someone hasn’t offered an alternative plan. This bill is jumping off a cliff. No alternative bill is not a good reason to vote yes on a bad bill (I am attempting to wade through what I can find on the bill so that I can write about it, but another 400 pages of amendments were added yesterday morning). It was worth noting that you could of made a drinking game by drinking every time he said the word “supermajority” and been drunk in 5 minutes.

Then Senator Dodd got up and gave a moving tribute to Ted Kennedy and talked about how a failure to vote yes for this bill would be to dishonor the legacy of the late Senator, who fought for years to get health care for all passed. Again, not a pertinent reason to support the bill. But I add this just so you can see the kind of absolute bullshit that passes for “debate” in the Senate. The reason it was done, in my opinion, is because it ate up 10 minutes of the one hour this evening allocated before a vote to end debate. Ten minutes of Dodd’s BS was ten minutes the Republicans couldn’t voice opposition for Americans to hear.

Finally, the Senate Minority Leader took the podium. Mitch McConnel, who is about as exciting to listen to as watching grass grow. He talks too slow, with too many pauses, and far too little “fire”. But his comments, despite lacking emotion, were pertinent. He talked about how if the Democrats were actually proud of what they were doing, it wouldn’t be done behind closed doors, and it wouldn’t be debated and voted on in the middle of the night on the weekend.

Then the vote went on and was passed strictly on party lines. All Republicans voted no. The two Independents voted yes, and the 58 Democrats voted yes (although not without some payoffs to make it happen). Debate was closed on the amendments. It looks as thought the final bill passage vote will be Tuesday morning. All we can do is pray for a defector at this point.

But what I have really been paying attention to lately is the tone and rhetoric in the Senate. It is as bad as I can remember it. For those who didn’t catch it in the news, I thought that the conduct of Stuart Smalley in his capacity of President of the Senate (a post that rotates nearly hourly through all Democrats) was deplorable. Joe Lieberman was offering comments and debate on the subject when his ten minutes ended. He requested “a few moments” to finish his thoughts, a routine request that is almost always granted. That is just the decorum of the Senate. However, instead of simply allowing Lieberman to finish, the junior idiot Senator from Minnesota decided instead to object and cut Lieberman off. It was ignorant, and uncalled for. Lieberman was stunned. John McCain stood up and stated that he felt that what was happening in the Senate was wrong.

That is the mindset of the Democrats in control of Congress now. They have literally given the Republicans the finger and told them to go screw themselves. They are not interested in debate. They are not interested in hearing opposing viewpoints. They don’t care what the American public thinks. They don’t care about anything. They see an opportunity to ram through any bill they like, with no ability for anyone to stop them. And they are attempting to capitalize on it as quickly as possible. I wrote months ago about how they have passed more legislation in this session of Congress than any other Congress in history. And that should tell the American people something. It means debates aren’t happening. It means they are ramming things through at record speed.

It also means they are well aware that their days are numbered. The Democrats will no longer control Congress after the 2010 elections. And they know it. They knew it when they won the 2008 elections. They knew right away that they had a two year window to go crazy with legislation. They knew they wouldn’t be taken out of power for what they were about to do. Which means they knew that the American people would not approve of what they were about to do. So they have moved at breakneck speed to get everything done they can.

So tonight, I find myself frustrated with Congress yet again. And I am disappointed to see how uncivil, and how incompetent, and how petty, the representatives of the people have become. I am frustrated to see such open corruption, buying votes and stifling debates, insane rhetoric and illogical legislations. And I am frustrated with how so many Americans have sacrificed their principles and values, accepted the idea of gigantic government and dependency, and rejected the ideas of personal responsibility, individual freedom, and liberty. I have found myself in a night where I see such a daunting task ahead if we are to ever have our country regain what made her great. And I have found myself truly afraid of the path that our country is on. We have to find a way forward. We have to stop the madness. And we have to take actions that will do it now……

I am not preaching revolution. That isn’t my style. I am simply baffled at the moment on the true way to make progress.

How dare Al Franken do exactly what McCain did.  IOKIYAR.  But maybe McCain just doesn’t remember, I mean what other excuse could there be?  He either forgot, or is lying through his teeth.

And Republicans holding back funding for the troops, guess what happens if Democrats do something like even ASK if we should be invading countries like Iraq.  Oh wait, they scrubbed the C-Span video of that exact type of issue.

Are you a Mom, a Dad, a coach, a boss, an older brother, or an older sister? If you are then believe me when I tell you that you’re a leader. And if you’re a leader it’s worth your while to learn to lead well! It will change your life!

Check out this video of junior Democratic Senator Al Franken before reading the rest of this post.

The question posed in this post is: is humility essential to good leadership? Consider this excerpt from Traveler and the Chaplain and the words of Jesus in the italics toward the end of the excerpt.

“So what is it then? What is humility?” Traveler asked.

“Humility is an absence of pride that comes from a keen awareness of who I am in comparison to God.”

Traveler sat with a blank look.

“Let me try to explain,” said the Chaplain. “Name one of the most famous athletes in the history of our planet.”

“Uhmm… Michael Jordan?”

“OK, he played basketball right?”

“Yes. You have to ask?”

The Chaplain ignored the question. “Suppose you and a friend were playing basketball together on the same team as Michael Jordan. And at the end of the game the three of you combined for 50 points: you scored 1; your friend scored 2; and Michael Jordan scored 47.”

“That sounds about right.”

“How ridiculous would it be for your friend to then deride you for not scoring as many points as he? It was Michael Jordan who scored all the points!”

“I guess it would be pretty silly,” Traveler said.

“How much greater is the difference between man and God than the difference between your friend and Michael Jordan?”

“The difference is infinite?” Traveler answered half asking.

“Yes, that’s right!” the Chaplain said excitedly. “The difference is infinite! Remember the story that Jesus told of the Pharisee and the tax collector?”

“Yes”

The Chaplain continued, “Two men went into the temple. The first, a Pharisee, thanked God for making him superior to the other who was a tax collector. The tax collector, recognizing that he was a sinner, simply asked God for mercy. Jesus said…

I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.

Luke 18:14

“One of these men, the tax collector, recognized that in comparison to God he was but dust, he was a sinner, he was in need of God’s mercy. Pride manifested itself in the other, in the Pharisee, as he compared himself to another human. Comparing yourself to another human is ridiculous in the context of God’s majesty, and God’s majesty is ever present. Therefore it is always ridiculous to compare yourself to another human.”

This ties into a great teaching on leadership that I heard at the Applegate Christian Fellowship’s http://www.applegatefellowship.org/ last Wednesday (12/16/09) night service.

In Jesus’ last public sermon, recorded in Matthew 23 Jesus is teaching on leadership and using the Pharisees and the teachers of the law as an example. He starts with ¹Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: ²“The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat.

The meaning of the word sit, in the original language, communicates the idea that they seated themselves. A good leader never has to “seat himself or herself.” That is they should follow the teaching from Jesus in Luke 14:7-11 Don’t take the place of honor, But when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, ‘Friend, move up to a better place.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all your fellow guests. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Back to Matthew 23:8 Jesus goes on to say, “But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have only one Master and you are all brothers. And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. ¹⁰Nor are you to be called ‘teacher,’ for you have one Teacher, the Christ. The greatest among you will be your servant. For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

This idea that we are all brothers and sisters, that we are all the same relative to Christ, is also expressed by the Chaplain in Traveler and the Chaplain.

“Comparing yourself to another human is ridiculous in the context of God’s majesty, and God’s majesty is ever present. Therefore it is always ridiculous to compare yourself to another human.”

Is humility an essential characteristic of  a good leader? Three times, once in Matthew and twice in Luke, Jesus says that those who exalt themselves will be humbled and those who humble themselves will be exalted — each time in the context of current leadership.

What do you think about Al Franken’s behavior?

As a senator, Minnesota’s Al Franken is creating an image as a confrontational lawmaker with no regard for seniority in a chamber that embraces it. That was on full display as Franken was presiding over the Senate. When Lieberman, I-Conn., asked for some more time to finish speaking about amendments he planned to offer to the Senate health care bill — a routine request — Franken refused to grant the time.

“In my capacity as the senator from Minnesota, I object,” Franken said. “Really?” Lieberman said. “OK.”Lieberman, taken aback, said he’d submit the rest of his statement in writing.

John McCain (R-Arizona) offers his perspective (see clip).

Not only some useful advice, but also the name of today’s franken! Now, hopefully even if you don’t care for the color (hey, yellow isn’t up there on my list of favorites, either) at least you will get a chuckle out of the silly name!

I used L’Oreal Bijou B.Outrageous and a sheer, shimmery white polish from It’s A Girl Thing. I got the later at Dollar Tree, but any shimmer white will do!

I filled an empty bottle half full of B.Outrageous, and half of the shimmery white.

This yellow-gold shimmer actually looked better on that I was expecting. Of course, even if it looked horrendous on me, I still would have posted it for comedy’s sake.

Thanks for stopping by! I promise you something a bit prettier is coming up! <3

Senator Al Franken, (D) Minnesota introduced legislation (S2904) to compliment the House bill (HR 4386) introduced by Representative Michael Michaud (D) Maine.  Of note, one of the co-sponsors is Senator Olympia Snowe (R) of Maine.  Ahhh…bi-partisanship

Full list of cosponsors:

Sen Boxer, Barbara [CA] – 12/17/2009
Sen Durbin, Richard [IL] – 12/17/2009
Sen Feingold, Russell D. [WI] – 12/17/2009
Sen Feinstein, Dianne [CA] – 12/17/2009
Sen Gillibrand, Kirsten E. [NY] – 12/17/2009
Sen Harkin, Tom [IA] – 12/17/2009
Sen Kerry, John F. [MA] – 12/17/2009
Sen Lautenberg, Frank R. [NJ] – 12/17/2009
Sen McCaskill, Claire [MO] – 12/17/2009
Sen Menendez, Robert [NJ] – 12/17/2009
Sen Schumer, Charles E. [NY] – 12/17/2009
Sen Snowe, Olympia J. [ME] – 12/17/2009

Al Franken cut off Senator Lieberman’s speech on the Senate floor in what appears to be an unprecedented rebuke of the now Independent Democrat. Joe asked for a minute or two to finish his remarks and Al “It is all about me” Franken declined to give him those minutes so he could enforce a strict time limit imposed by his taskmasters.

From CNN:

After his allotted ten minutes, Lieberman – an independent from Connecticut who sits with the Democratic caucus – asked for more time to finish his speech, a request customarily granted in the venerable chamber.

“In my capacity as the senator from Minnesota, I object,” replied
Franken.

“Really?” Lieberman asked, seeming surprised by the rejection. “Okay,” he continued with a chuckle, “I don’t take it personally.”

Immediately following the exchange, Lieberman’s closest Republican ally, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, came to his defense.

“I must say that I don’t know what’s happening here in this body, but I think its wrong,” said McCain. “I have been around here for 20-some years. [This is] the first time I have ever seen a member denied an extra minute or
two to finish his remarks.”

I haven’t had time to check on McCain’s story, but if no one else got cut short, it seems the CNNs and other government cheering media will do some logical jujitsu to explain how the GOP is “fractured” instead of the obvious problems within democrat party.

Posted by: LibbyShaw

What is it with Republican Party? Does it utterly despise hard working and desperate Americans?

Is the GOP too stubborn, lazy or too dumb to wrap its head around a very complex bill? Or maybe reading is a very tedious and beyond boring act that takes time that could be otherwise spent playing golf or sipping martinis with health insurance lobbyists.

Hundreds of Americans die every month because they lack health care insurance. Do Republicans, including the self-serving,vindictive and tool for the health insurance companies, Joe Lieberman care?

Can obese pigs fly?

I did not think so.

Everyone is entitled to one’s opinion but not to making up the facts.

Whether it is health care reform or the economic meltdown, Republicans refuse to realistically acknowledge the domestic disasters that confront us whether it has to do with thousands upon thousands of Americans who die because of lack of access to health insurance. Republicans are also unmoved by the thousands upon thousands of Americans who have lost their jobs, homes and everything they have worked so hard to achieve.

Check out how the Republican tools for health insurance lobbyists operate.

Witness a work in narcissism.

Oh, so, Republicans want to improve the bill? For whom? The insurance health care industry?

You betcha.

Oh, Joe, come on, be brave and come out of your Republican closet. Admit that you are a tool for the fat cat health insurance lobbyist. And so is your wife. Come on Joe, admit this is all about you and you don’t give a rat’s derriere about your constituents who will die sooner than they should because you care about your ego more than you do about the people who elected you.

The inconvenient facts.

Disaster and Denial.

Given this history, you might have expected the emergence of a national consensus in favor of restoring more-effective financial regulation, so as to avoid a repeat performance. But you would have been wrong.

Talk to conservatives about the financial crisis and you enter an alternative, bizarro universe in which government bureaucrats, not greedy bankers, caused the meltdown. It’s a universe in which government-sponsored lending agencies triggered the crisis, even though private lenders actually made the vast majority of subprime loans. It’s a universe in which regulators coerced bankers into making loans to unqualified borrowers, even though only one of the top 25 subprime lenders was subject to the regulations in question.

Oh, and conservatives simply ignore the catastrophe in commercial real estate: in their universe the only bad loans were those made to poor people and members of minority groups, because bad loans to developers of shopping malls and office towers don’t fit the narrative.

In part, the prevalence of this narrative reflects the principle enunciated by Upton Sinclair: “It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it.” As Democrats have pointed out, three days before the House vote on banking reform Republican leaders met with more than 100 financial-industry lobbyists to coordinate strategies. But it also reflects the extent to which the modern Republican Party is committed to a bankrupt ideology, one that won’t let it face up to the reality of what happened to the U.S. economy.

Republicans are not going to lift a finger to help our country recover from the carnage wreaked by its ideologies and agendas since Ronald Reagan.

I think we can safely trust that Republicans will never get it b/c their salaries, as quoted above, depend upon their never getting it.

Nor do the Republicans give a rat’s derriere about the recent poll that reveals the full extent of the horrible misery and suffering taking place throughout the United States.

A few mere examples of the extent of the suffering.

More than half of the nation’s unemployed workers have borrowed money from friends or relatives since losing their jobs. An equal number have cut back on doctor visits or medical treatments because they are out of work.

Almost half have suffered from depression or anxiety. About 4 in 10 parents have noticed behavioral changes in their children that they attribute to their difficulties in finding work.

Joblessness has wreaked financial and emotional havoc on the lives of many of those out of work, according to a New York Times/CBS News poll of unemployed adults, causing major life changes, mental health issues and trouble maintaining even basic necessities.

The results of the poll, which surveyed 708 unemployed adults from Dec. 5 to Dec. 10 and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus four percentage points, help to lay bare the depth of the trauma experienced by millions across the country who are out of work as the jobless rate hovers at 10 percent and, in particular, as the ranks of the long-term unemployed soar.

Roughly half of the respondents described the recession as a hardship that had caused fundamental changes in their lives. Generally, those who have been out of work longer reported experiencing more acute financial and emotional effects.

Republican solution: Tax cuts for the wealthy. Trickle down economics works.

With unemployment driving foreclosures nationwide, a quarter of those polled said they had either lost their home or been threatened with foreclosure or eviction for not paying their mortgage or rent. About a quarter, like Ms. Newton, have received food stamps. More than half said they had cut back on both luxuries and necessities in their spending. Seven in 10 rated their family’s financial situation as fairly bad or very bad.

But the impact on their lives was not limited to the difficulty in paying bills. Almost half said unemployment had led to more conflicts or arguments with family members and friends; 55 percent have suffered from insomnia.

“Everything gets touched,” said Colleen Klemm, 51, of North Lake, Wis., who lost her job as a manager at a landscaping company last November. “All your relationships are touched by it. You’re never your normal happy-go-lucky person. Your countenance, your self-esteem goes. You think, ‘I’m not employable.’ “

Republican solution: Let the banks continue to rip off and rob the American people. Block all efforts at regulating the banks. Fight President Obama’s job efforts. Solution: tax cuts for the wealthy. Trickle down economics is what we need.

“Every time I think about money, I shut down because there is none,” Ms. Linville said. “I get major panic attacks. I just don’t know what we’re going to do.”

Nearly half of the adults surveyed admitted to feeling embarrassed or ashamed most of the time or sometimes as a result of being out of work. Perhaps unsurprisingly, given the traditional image of men as breadwinners, men were significantly more likely than women to report feeling ashamed most of the time.

There was a pervasive sense from the poll that the American dream had been upended for many. Nearly half of those polled said they felt in danger of falling out of their social class, with those out of work six months or more feeling especially vulnerable. Working-class respondents felt at risk in the greatest numbers.

Nearly half of respondents said they did not have health insurance, with the vast majority citing job loss as a reason, a notable finding given the tug of war in Congress over a health care overhaul. The poll offered a glimpse of the potential ripple effect of having no coverage. More than half characterized the cost of basic medical care as a hardship.

Many in the ranks of the unemployed appear to be rethinking their career and life choices. Just over 40 percent said they had moved or considered moving to another part of the state or country where there were more jobs. More than two-thirds of respondents had considered changing their career or field, and 44 percent of those surveyed had pursued job retraining or other educational opportunities.

Joe Whitlow, 31, of Nashville, worked as a mechanic until a repair shop he was running with a friend finally petered out in August. He had contemplated going back to school before, but the potential loss in income always deterred him. Now he is enrolled at a local community college, planning to study accounting.

“When everything went bad, not that I didn’t have a choice, but it made the choice easier,” Mr. Whitlow said.

Republican reaction: Fight, block and obstruct the Obama Administration and Democratic Party’s efforts at reform. Solution: tax cuts for the wealthy. Trickle down economics is the solution we need.

Sure, that and there is a boatload of cheap oceanfront property for sale in the middle of the blistering Mojave Desert.

This is the Al Franken that I am glad to see in the Senate:

And I know that Al HAS read the Bill!

A great video of Sen. Franken attacking a Republican for lying on the Senate floor. Now, while watching this, bare in mind a giant glaring ommission from this clip (and possibly from the speech, not sure) of exactly what the point Sen. Thune was trying to make, which is the taxes for the healthcare bill kick in right away, but several of the expenditure-based benefits don’t kick in for a while. That’s a good point. That’s a point that I think needs to be made and argued and debated over.

Notice too, how instead of arguing a valid Conservative-argument based on the facts and then winning the debate, he lies about the problem and is thrashed by Franken. This is why you need to understand the bill and attack the real problems, not the imaginary ones.

Real Problem: Too few of the benefits start right away when the taxes for those benefits dont. Solution: either delay some of those taxes or cause the benefits to kick in sooner.

Fake Problem: No Benefits kick in for 1,476 days. Solution: Panic.

The Chart in Question:

Good news for all you pink lovers…I’ve got something on the softer side for you today!

For “Ladylike”, I used Sally Hansen Jewel Frost and Revlon Colorstay in Endless Pink (another Dollar Tree find).

I poured half of each into an empty bottle, plus ballz, and shook well.

Now, to be honest…these types of colors aren’t really me. I like loud, colorful and blingy. But this pale shimmery pink is so pretty that even I had to give it a try!

Thanks for stopping in…and be sure to check back soon!

Posted by LibbyShaw

Senator John Cornyn (R)

Some Republican senators are taking heat for voting against an amendment that would allow employees of military contractors to sue their employers if they are raped at work — and they want the Democratic senator who wrote the amendment to help them fight off the bad publicity.

In October, 30 Republicans voted against Sen. Al Franken’s amendment to a defense appropriations bill that would de-fund contractors who prevent their employees from suing if they are raped by co-workers. Since then, those Republicans have faced outrage for what critics say amounts to support for rape.

Instead of standing up to take responsibility for or clarifying their disgraceful votes, Republican cowards are instead attacking Al Franken, blaming him for their votes.

Jamie Leigh Jones

Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) accused Franken exploiting the story of Jamie Leigh Jones — a former KBR employee who says she was locked in a container in Iraq after alleging she was raped by co-workers — to further his political agenda.

“Trying to tap into the natural sympathy that we have for this victim of this rape –and use that as a justification to frankly misrepresent and embarrass his colleagues, I don’t think it’s a very constructive thing,” Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said in an interview.

I guess Franken held a sledge hammer over Cornyn’s head and said if he did not vote against the anti-rape amendment Franken would crack it over his head.

What shameless cowards.

I could not agree more with Laura Clawson over at Daily Kos.

To summarize the Republican position: As women, we are not “average Americans,” and gang rape is not a “serious” issue. As women, no matter how powerful we become on our own merits, the Republican establishment will still be hoping for a man to come along and put us in our place.

Not every Republican signs onto these views — indeed, 10 Senate Republicans voted for the Franken amendment, giving the lie to the NRSC’s claim of partisanship — but this is the undercurrent of the party’s policies. This is what they’re hoping to get voters to overlook when they run a Sarah Palin or a Kelly Ayotte for office. This is why Bob McDonnell’s campaign for Virginia governor has been such a popular campaign stop for 2012 prospects: because of, not despite, his opposition to marital contraception and women in the workplace. This is why David Vitter (who voted against the Franken amendment) is still a senator in good standing with the party of alleged sexual morality.

You don’t have to go very far beneath the Republican surface claims of equality-but-not-really to get to the rock-bottom sense that women just don’t count, that our rights and our wellbeing are always subordinate to whatever interest of men they might conflict with. When it comes to it, even the (themselves sexist) notions of chivalry and protecting women come behind protecting the right of corporations to imprison their female employees to shield their male employees from rape charges and still get government contracts.

This latest vote against anti-rape legislation should be a chilling and sober wake up call for all women.

In October 2009, Sen. Franken tears into KBR’s front man. It is well worth watching.

Happy December! With the holidays quickly approaching, I thought I would get a start on the seasonal-inspired polishes.

I used Hologram glitter pigment from Coastal Scents, China Glaze St. Tropez (sadly, my brush broke so I resolved to use this for frankening…you can use a similar shade that is easier to find), CM Majestic Blue, and Wet ‘N Wild black creme.

I poured about 1/2 Majestic blue into an empty bottle, then added 1/3 St. Tropez, 10 drops of black, and 1 tbsp. Holographic pigment.

I slowed the camera shutter down a bit to show the gorgeous holo glitter better:

Very festive, indeed! This is truly a shade that just screams, “celebrate!”

I have more holiday fun coming up, so check back soon!

Pardon the pun. I recently saw an article about the decline of popularity of the American penny. It got me thinking about the Swiss money system. The Swiss equivalent of a cent is a rappen. You can only get rappen as small as 5. The denominations are 5, 10, 20, and 50.

Also, the Swiss Franc paper money doesn’t start until the 10 Franc note. You can only get smaller Francs as coins in denominations of 1, 2, and 5. Another interesting note (ha! full of puns today!), if you withdraw money from an ATM, you will receive the highest denominations possible, unless you select otherwise (if the option for smaller denominations is available). Heath’s eyes bugged out the first time the ATM spat out a 200 CHF note at him instead of a wad of 20’s.

All in all, I think the Swiss system is, I think. Although I did have to buy a new wallet with a coin-holder!

Franken aufs Papier gebracht:
Die Literaturszene in Nordbayern

Wenn sonst nichts mehr geht in unserer Marktwirtschaft, Regionalkrimis gehen immer noch gut über die Ladentheke.

Vielleicht ja nicht jeder, aber der Eindruck verfestigt sich, dass halb Deutschland inzwischen den Regionalkrimis verfallen sein muss, denn irgendwer muss die Bücher mit Mordfällen aus Eifel, Einöd und Allgäu doch kaufen. Auch in Nordbayern gibt es Regionalkrimis, darüberhinaus aber auch eine insgesamt vielfältige Literaturszene.
Sonntag, 29.11. | 12.05 Uhr | Bayern 2
Ein Feature über Frankens Literaturszene am Sonntag, 29. November 2009 ab 12.05 Uhr (Ausstrahlung in Franken).
Quelle: KULTUR-Newsletter – Bayerischer Rundfunk

What better way to start out the day than with a little green?
We all know that I love my green polishes, but today’s franken is a bit more on the tame side. And the bonus is, that it’s pretty darn easy to make!

I used New York Summer Amaranth (please ignore the sad state of the bottle…it had a bit of an accident when I was moving) and OPI Dazzle Me.

I added 1/2 each into an empty bottle, added a few ballz, and shook.

I used 3 very thin coats, and it still had a bit of sheerness to it. Usually VNL’s (visible nail lines) bother the hell outta me, but I didn’t mind it so much with this one.

The perky green is a lovely eye-catching color, while the shimmer really softens it up!
I’ve been working on some really cool new polishes, as well as some holiday ones. They will be up very soon, and as always, feel free to email me any requests. Thanks for stopping by!

Auf gehts – zur Burgweihnacht Pappenheim. Wir freuen uns sehr auf Euren Besuch!

Mehr Infos dazu auch in unserem IsisMond Markttagebuch.

Hier einige Infos von der offiziellen Homepage http://www.grafschaft-pappenheim.de.

28./ 29.11. und am 5. / 6. 12. 2009

Romantik, Flair, märchenhafte Stimmung, Fackeln, Schwedenfeuer und der Duft von Glühwein und Bratwürsten erwarten den Besucher der Burgweihnacht auf der winterlichen Burg Pappenheim.

Für große Kinderaugen sorgen Krippen- und Christbaumschmuck, liebevoll gearbeitetes Holzspielzeug, Leckereien, kreativer Schmuck, handgezogene Kerzen, handwerkliche und kunsthandwerkliche Produkte von regionalen Herstellern und Ausstellern.

Die Kleinen zieht es derweil hin zum Nikolaus mit seinem Sack voller Geschenke.

Mehr Infos über die Burg und andere Veranstaltungen unter Grafschaft Pappenheim

Orte, deren Name wie Darmstadt ursprünglich auf die Silbe -stat endeten, sind relativ selten, zumindest verglichen mit Orten, die auf -heim oder -hausen enden.

Auffällig ist, dass nördlich einer gedachten Linie Königstädten – Stockstadt bis zum Main kein einziger Stat-Ort zu finden ist, sich südlich davon aber ein Stat-Ort an den nächsten reiht.

Zur Verdeutlichung hier mal eine Skizze:
(Anmerkung: die Skizze beinhaltet Orte, die heute nicht mehr existieren und nur aus Dokumenten bekannt sind, nicht jedoch aus archäologischen Funden, weshalb ihr genauer Standort nicht zu ermitteln ist und nur vermutet werden kann. Ober-Ramstadt und Klein-Umstadt sind – obwohl Stat-Orte – nicht in der Skizze verzeichnet, da sie wahrscheinlich erst später in Anlehnung an Nieder-Ramstadt bzw. Groß-Umstadt entstanden sind.)

Diese auffällige Häufung wird üblicherweise auf zwei Arten erklärt:

Entweder, so die eine These, handelt es sich um eine sogenannte Nestbildung, d.h. ein Ort beeinflusst den Namen des Nachbarorts. Wenn also ein Ort Eberstadt heißt, erhöht das die Wahrscheinlichkeit, dass ein Nachbarort ebenfalls auf -stadt endet.

Oder man versucht einen Zusammenhang mit dem Wildbann Dreieich herzustellen, entlang dessen Südgrenze sich etwa die Hälfte aller hessischen Stat-Orte südlich des Mains entlangziehen, eine Kette von Stat-Orten, die von Stockstadt am Rhein bis Stockstadt am Main reicht.

Es ist aber fraglich, ob die Zugehörigkeit zum Wildbann Dreieich die Namensgebung beeinflusst hat, zum einen, weil der Wildbann aus weit mehr Orten bestand, deren Namensgebung keinerlei signifikante Struktur aufweisen, zum anderen existierten die Stat-Orte schon bevor der Wildbann Dreieich eingerichtet wurde.

Die Theorie der Nestbildung wird aber eben durch die wie an einer Perlenschnur angereihten Stat-Orte zwischen Stockstadt am Rhein und Stockstadt am Main widerlegt.

Ich hätte eine andere Idee:

Sieht man sich die Stat-Orte genauer auf der Karte an, fällt auf, dass sie bis auf wenige Ausnahmen eine Struktur haben.

Da sind zum einen die vier Orte Königstädten, Wallerstädten, Otterestat und Weiterstadt. Sie ziehen sich im Halbkreis um Groß-Gerau, einem ehemaligen Römerkastell, das sicher auch unter den Franken noch große Bedeutung hatte. Die Stat-Orte kreisen Groß-Gerau regelrecht ein mit einer “offenen Flanke” in Richtung Frankfurt (und einem großen, absolut “Stat-freiem” Gebiet). Waren diese vier Orte also vielleicht Vorposten von Groß-Gerau während des Vorstoßes der Franken nach Südhessen?

Eine ähnliche Struktur ist bei Bürstadt, Bobstadt und dem nur zu vermutenden Hochstätten zu erkennen, die dann als Vorposten von Worms zu erklären wären. Umstadt, Kleestadt und Langstadt könnten diese Funktion für Dieburg erfüllt haben. Darmstadt, Mix-/Moxstadt und Hochstädten liegen entlang der Bergstraße und dienten eventuell deren Schutz.

Am auffälligsten ist aber die Linie Stockstadt am Main – Nieder-Ramstadt, fünf (rechnet man das nur zu vermutende Engelstat hinzu sogar sechs) Stat-Orte riegeln dort den Zugang zu Südhessen regelrecht ab. Es ist kaum zu bezweifeln, dass diese Orte nach strategischen Gesichtspunkten angelegt wurden und nicht etwa an solchen Dingen wie die Fruchtbarkeit des Bodens oder politischen Verwaltungsstrukturen ausgerichtet sind. Das spricht doch sehr für eine militärische Bedeutung.

Wenn die Stat-Orte militärische Bedeutung hatten, dann stammen sie alle aus der Zeit des Fränkisch-Alamannischen-Konflikts, vielleicht noch aus Chlodwigs Zeiten (gest. 511).

Einzig die auffällige Lücke zwischen Stätter-/Staderstat und Groß-Umstadt wäre dann noch rätselhaft.