obama stereotypes

jesse jackson has a point

i enjoyed reading this article that came up in a google blogs alert.  it points out the stereotyping that obama plays with.  it may prove successful, but it will also bite him in the butt.

Obama is playing a very dangerous game.

It might help him win in November, just as the Rev. Jackson’s remarks might be a foil that Obama can use to his advantage.

But in the process, Obama is reinforcing negative attitudes toward blacks in the white community, he is undermining the case for governmental solutions to our urgent social problems, and he is lessening support for specific policies such as affirmative action that are geared toward dealing with the still lingering, real, and crippling effects of racism.

That would be an ironic outcome of the Obama campaign.

 

cuddle creek reply

——-Original Message——-

From: Cuddle Creek LLC
Date: 7/7/2008 9:27:48 AM
To: ols.moonmaiden@gmail.com
Subject: RE: Website Contact Form - Customer Support: Unhappy with Purchase

Dear Cheryl,

We are sorry you are disappointed in your purchase, however, we would say that you are Incorrect, the skin itself is blue, not green or teal - we suggest you adjust the color on your monitor.

We also make it a rule not to make the letters contain any decorative fonts, due to the fact we will not supply fonts due to copyright legalities unlike Yahoo groups.

In regards to it matching your desktop, of course it will not match your desktop as this skin was made to match the coordinating desktop theme.

Regards,
Cuddle Creek LLC

~ and my final reply ~

I appreciate your prompt response, but it’s not what I expected or hoped to hear. I’m not impressed with the defensive stance you take or the way you treat first-time customers by telling them they’re wrong. It’s certainly not the way to influence repeat business.

Hmmm … let’s see. I have perfect 20-20 vision corrected by lasik surgery and I’m not color blind. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with my computer, monitor, or palette(s). I use a V7 R22W02 22″ display LCD monitor set at 1680 x 1050 screen resolution with highest (32-bit) color quality.

“The superb specifications like 1680 x 1050 resolution, high contrast ratio of 700:1, DVI-D input and an excellent response time of 5 ms make the V7 R22W02 perfect for office use as well as for home-entertainment.”

I never said “matching desktop”, I said matching color. I was searching for a premade IncrediSkin in a light blue that would match my current desktop. You can see by the following that GardenBug doesn’t ~ not at all!

I also never said I wanted a font included in the GardenBug Incredimail. I already have hundreds of fonts installed, decorative and otherwise . They were not supplied by Yahoo! Groups, but came with licensed installed software (such as Broderbund’s Print Shop). Most Incredimails will include a font name in the footer. GardenBug’s doesn’t, and it’s set in Times New Roman with a font size of 18. Font size 18 is incredibly large and ugly.

China Blue Windowblinds

with Rising Souls - The Final Chapter wallpaper

Curacao Firefox 3 theme
“An exotic yet exquisite alliance of blue and brown.”

I should also point out that you can’t read the date, time, or status messages in GardenBug’s status window.

I also never said I wanted a font included in the GardenBug Incredimail. I already have hundreds of fonts installed, decorative and otherwise . They were not supplied by Yahoo! Groups, but came with licensed installed software (such as Broderbund’s Print Shop). Most Incredimails will include a font name in the footer. GardenBug’s doesn’t, and it’s set in Times New Roman with a font size of 18. Font size 18 is incredibly large and ugly.

“The customer is always right” meaning “The trading policy that states a company’s keenness to be seen to put the customer first” is obviously not a maxim you’re familiar with or practice. I can see that you aren’t the kind of company I like to do business with anyways. I just wish I’d known in advance. Your response time is quick ~ it’s simply not a good response, or the right one to take in the business of selling. The best thing you could do is offer larger screen shots ~ perhaps full-size ~ of the Incredimail skins you’re selling so customers can get a better idea of what they’re buying beforehand.

I’ve got too many other things to do, so I’m not going to argue with you about what’s wrong or right. My time is worth more than the $5 I paid you for an inferior product. You’ve proven to me in spades that I made a big mistake in purchasing from you. I’ll stick with my free “Tattymail by goldengirl” Incrediskin. It doesn’t have all of the features I want, but it IS a true light blue.

Thanks for nothing.

 

don’t shop at cuddle creek

GardenBug IMSkin

My graphic purchase experience was a flop

I’m writing to express utter disappointment with my purchase yesterday. I’ve changed my desktop theme to a light blue and was looking for an IncrediSkin that matches better than the one I was using.

The description of the GardenBug IM Skin says “soft sky blues” so I thought it would be the perfect match. Your thumbnail is small and hard to see detail, and there’s no zoom. The product I received doesn’t match my current light blue desktop in the least. The GardenBug IM Skin is blue GREEN ~ a light TEAL color … nothing similar to the blue in the sky. I can’t and won’t be using it so I’ve wasted five bucks. That’s a lot for someone like myself who isn’t working.

“The entire incredimail skin has adorable graphics throughout, making it a stand out.” This is also untrue. I use Incredimail Skin Creator, but was hoping to save myself some time by purchasing your premade IncrediSkin. The graphics in the GardenBug IM Skin are cute, but not outstanding. There is minimal use of graphics, and a lot of default Incredimail icons are preset in the skin.

“Included in this set is also a matching, Incredimail letter, the letter is made so not only do you have pretty e-mail stationary, but you are able to write without the cute graphics interferring with your personal note.” The included Incredimail letter was created without any special or decorative font and is worthless. I receive prettier, higher quality Incredimail letters from my Yahoo! Groups every single day.

Unfortunately, I didn’t take time to search for FAQs or a guarantee on your website before making my purchase. I’m guessing you’re dependent on Internet users who are unfamiliar with graphics or graphic programs. I won’t be shopping with you again and won’t recommend that others do. I will probably blog about this negative experience and share my disappointment with the public at large.

 

obama’s global tax

 this topic has been on my mind for quite some time ~ all year long as a matter of fact. (yes, i know it will probably drive some of you crazy, but “all lower-case” is my personal latest fad. it’s faster and i like it

here’s the latest blog article i’ve read:

American Thinker Blog: Obama’s Global Tax Bill Coming Soon

The Global Poverty Act of 2007 (S.2433) is coming up for a Senate vote sometime after the July 4 recess, according the office of Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison. Once Harry Reid and the Democrat leadership put it on the calendar, we could have as little as a week to prepare for the vote..

The bill is sponsored in the Senate by Barack Obama. Read about it here.

If passed, it will cost taxpayers $845,000,000,000 over the next 13 years, in addition to our current foreign aid expenditures.

And the best part is that it will be administered in conjunction with…brace yourselves…the United Nations. The same one of “Food-for-Oil” fame.

It passed (H.R. 1302) earlier by a unanimous voice vote in the House.

It’s about global income redistribution. Their distribution - our income.

Heard much debate about it? Ah, it’s only 8.5 tenths of a trillion.

i really can’t believe that anyone would vote for barack obama. it’s unfathomable to me to support this kind of taxation. i already don’t like the taxes we pay ~ and to add more on top of that?

in my mind, the consideration of barack obama for president of these united states either means …

1) you’re in favor of taxation, or
2) you really don’t have a clue and haven’t done your homework

Obama: 35 reasons why I do not support him - with references « The Hemp Pages

You’re Not Special: Nice guys make bad presidents - The Stanford Daily Online

NO-Bama: Themes and Memes

on the south side of fort wayne, indiana i’ve seen with my own eyes that support for barack obama is based solely on skin color.  they are hoping for a first black president and are ignorant of the issues.  the people i’ve heard are on welfare and already evade taxes.  they use “the system” for all it’s worth.

i own a (prospective rental) home there and know what i’m talking about.  it was robbed in may and i’ve been out there often.  as an example of the stupidity i’ve blatantly been told by these same obama supporters …

i was asked if scott and I are married and i said no … we’ve been living together for well over five years now.  they firmly insisted that it’s common law (marriage).  i said i didn’t think there was common law in indiana.  i’d looked it up before when i was checking out marriage laws in indiana and did so again.  nope, common law marriage was abolished in indiana on january 1, 1958.

the most informative and best review i read of obama’s global tax was Phyllis Schlafy’s:

Obama’s 0.7% Solution For Poverty Gets Pass From Senate Republicans

there are many others, easily found by using the search term “obama global tax”:

Obama EXPOSED as WASTREL of OUR TAX MONEY! at Desert Conservative

i was really excited to see hillary clinton in the running and decided i for one was ready for a female president. she’s smart and savvy … it was the natural progression for her. i was thrilled to support her and she definitely got my vote!

now that obama won the nomination, i’m not sure what i’ll do when election time rolls around. i believe in the principles of and consider myself a democrat, but there’s no way i’ll vote for someone i don’t like. i most definitely don’t like someone who wants to put us under the thumb of the united nations and increase our country’s already staggering debt.  that’s just plain evil and ignorant!

when it comes right down to it i’ll either vote republican (yuck!) or just not vote at all. which is the lesser evil?

 

Early to Bed

… early to rise. The early bird catches the worm! I’m not sure how the saying goes, but it’s something like that ~ and it’s true.

It was refreshing to finally go to bed at a decent hour and wake up early ~ 6 a.m. I hope I can get back to a normal schedule. It seems I get so much more done during the day than at night ~ mail for instance ~ instead of just dragging around all day.

It’s 31° , snowing lightly, but not too cold. I’m wearing a sweatshirt and hot indoors. I’m thinking I might have to go change into a cooler t-shirt today.

I’m looking forward to seeing what this day brings

 

Winzy’s Last Leg

… for me anyways. After much thought (well, not today, of course), I’ve decided to hang it up with Winzy, unless I win something besides points before the end of the month. I’ll try to hang in through January and see what happens.

I started earning Winzy points on June 3, 2006 ~ not actively at first. My highest point month was 235,314 and my lowest 398 Winzy points entered into the monthly sweepstakes. It doesn’t take alot of effort, but what it does take just doesn’t even seem worth it anymore. I’ve only won three prizes ~a total of $20 in Amazon gift certificates~ since starting.

There was a time that Online-Sweepstakes let us use Winzy buttons in our signatures ~and they were really adding up~, but that time has regretfully ~unfortunately~ passed. I was a bit disappointed and angry about it for a time. Every view of every post counted and I tried to make relevant posts. There are always those who ruin things for everyone though … posting blather to earn points.

I feel very lucky to have 18 friends signed up and I hate letting them down. On the other hand, I’m tired of going through the hassle of trying to earn a few piddly points … the maximum searches per day; promoting Winzy through email, blog, forums, and MySpace. It’s not amounting to much anymore ~ I’m at just over 10,000 points today.

I think after all, that the amount of time spent with Winzy ~no matter how small~ will be better spent elsewhere. I believe other Winzy folks are starting to feel the same way.

The big question is whether I want to switch to a top-notch search engine ~ or look for another reward system. Blingo has never been much better for me than Winzy

 

Another Sleepless Night

It happened again … I couldn’t sleep and stayed up all night. It was so cold overnight ~ 10° or less, and I just couldn’t fall asleep ~ so I stayed awake. I’ll be paying for it all day today Well, what’s left of the day. I finally dragged myself to bed around 9 a.m. ~ woke around 11:30 a.m. when Scott called, and fell back asleep until almost 1:30 p.m. I hate when I lose half a day. Probably by the time midnight comes around I’ll be wide awake.

I really, really hate cold weather. Sometimes I just can’t get warm. I drank hot tea and coffee … the caffeine doesn’t help, but warmed me up a teeny, tiny bit. Thank goodness for one hot fresh cup at a time pod makers, like my Senseo

I think it might also be my unconscious state keeping me up .. the stress of thinking about too many things. My mind almost always seems to be whirling with a million ~sometimes unrelated~ thoughts, and I can’t keep up with them all. Things to do, things I need to record and complete ~ instead of just thinking about them.

Got some things done, but really too tired to do them … reworked and posted wins spreadsheets for 2005, 2006, finally 2007, and even 2008. Now I’ll work backwards on 2004 and before.

Here it is after 3 p.m. and I’m still waking up ~ starting my second cup of coffee. I can hardly think, much less concentrate on anything. I’m even forgetful while I’m writing. I’m glad we’re having something simple and effortless for dinner tonight ~ “big” salads with bacon bits, crispy chicken, diced ham, cheese, and croutons.

 

Time Flies

It’s not just a saying ~ it’s really true. It’s been an exceptionally busy week here, but I’d be hard put to track all the hours.

I finally entered a few sweepstakes this morning before they expire. It’s evident I haven’t been entering many this week. My total count has dropped from an average of 2,500-3,000 (listings, not entries) to less than 1,500 I’ll have to get on the bandwagon soon if I want to win anything. I’ve also been bad about even marking off entries on an easy-to-use daily sweepstakes checklist I created.

I wanted to close out the year organized for a fresh start, but that didn’t happen. I’m still trying to “get things done” so everything else just falls into place. So I can have a simple schedule, follow it, and be happy I’m always coming up with new “projects” though and they all seem to take an inordinate amount of time

This week I spent alot of time updating spreadsheets for wins in 2005 and 2006. I’ve posted them, but I’ve already got a few ideas to make them a little bit better and will post more updates sometime soon. I’ve almost completed my spreadsheet for 2007 wins and I’ve started 2008. When those are done I’ll go even further back … I’ve actually got a huge stack of papers for really old wins LOL.

I spent most of another day looking around at graphics … one of my favorite things to do. And I dwindled the HUGE piles of paperwork and things scattered on two downstairs desks. Hopefully I can sit down and work on mail soon. That’s something else I’d like to get in the habit of doing regularly instead of letting it pile up.

I created a couple of playlists at Project Playlist. Eventually, I hope to replace most or all of my hard drive tunes with streaming music. Hard drive space isn’t at a premium ~ I just prefer to do everything online that I can.

The last couple of days have been spent tweaking my computer … cleaning things up, reorganizing, finding better ways to do things.

This weekend I’ve got to make myself sit down and clip a ton of coupons. Most of the ones in my extra-large coupon organizer have probably expired. Our newspaper subscription expired at the end of the year and we probably won’t renew it. Scott’s parents pass along coupon inserts from the Sunday paper and just between the two of us, we really don’t use much more. So many of them already go to waste and I can find valuable printable coupons online.

Gotta squeeze some dishwasher and laundry time in too.

I’ve neglected MySpace this week and hope to return to it soon. … ONE DAY, I hope to digitize many years worth of photos!

Hope everyone has a good ~winning~ weekend!

 

♥ Amazon ♥

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again ~ ♥ Amazon ♥ . I was doing some last-minute shopping at the Friday Sale and noticed that two sets of sheets I bought earlier this month cost significantly less. Hmmm … after searching help I found that Amazon has a Post-Order Price Guarantee! I’ve been shopping there a long time and I never knew this, but don’t think I’ve ever had occasion to.

Amazon.com’s prices for released items will change from time to time based on a variety of factors. If Amazon.com’s price for an already-released item decreases within 30 days after we ship the item to you, we’ll be glad to refund the difference in price if you contact us. Please click one of the buttons on the right, and be sure to have your order number handy so we can assist you.

I love the instant call-backs! Talking with customer service is never a hassle. My order problems are always quickly and easily resolved. Tonight I received a credit card refund for the difference in the sheets. I also got a total refund for my previous cereal purchase!! I wasn’t going to mention it, but I saw the cereal was on sale again tonight. The price was a bit higher, but the 20.5 ounces size was the same ~ and this time the photo even shows 20.5 ounces:

All it took was a simple phone call and a few minutes of my time. After such a pleasant experience I decided to go ahead and order the three items in my shopping cart. I paid only $3.97 after applying a free $25 gift certificate (from a rewards program) and free Super Saver Shipping for 180s Women’s Black Puffy Quilt Ear Warmer, No Nonsense Women’s Red Long Sleeve Top and Snowflake Long Pant Sleepwear Set, and Pike Street 135-Gram Snowflakes Printed Flannel Full Sheet Set!!

On December 28, 2007 I wrote I LOVE Amazon.com!

UPS delivered the cereal I ordered one week ago within the past hour. The boxes I received were 15 ounces instead of the large 20.5 ounce boxes I was so excited about getting for a great deal. I checked my order online and because the cereal is an unreturnable item, I contacted Amazon.com for a callback. I was immediately connected to a customer service representative from Estara Inc. … I believe they are contracted by Amazon.com for return issues.

I am tickled pink with the prompt and very satisfactory resolution of my order issue My order will be replaced with the correct item ~ and I get to keep the 8 15 ounce boxes. Free cereal! I love Post Honey Bunches of Oats that these are compared to. We won’t have to buy cereal for a long, long time

When I take a closer look at the photo though ~ it does show the 15 ounce box. I hope Amazon.com doesn’t make too many of these mistakes ~ it must be costly! Fast and free shipping too!!

Sweet Home Farm French Vanilla Granola with Almonds, 20.5 Ounce Boxes (Pack of
List Price: $27.56
Price: $12.00 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25.
You Save: $15.56 (56%)

Product Features
* Case of eight 20.5-ounce cartons of cereal (total of 164 ounces)
* Flakes and oat clusters with almonds
* 100% natural

 

I LOVE Amazon.com!

UPS delivered the cereal I ordered one week ago within the past hour. The boxes I received were 15 ounces instead of the large 20.5 ounce boxes I was so excited about getting for a great deal. I checked my order online and because the cereal is an unreturnable item, I contacted Amazon.com for a callback. I was immediately connected to a customer service representative from Estara Inc. … I believe they are contracted by Amazon.com for return issues.

I am tickled pink with the prompt and very satisfactory resolution of my order issue My order will be replaced with the correct item ~ and I get to keep the 8 15 ounce boxes. Free cereal! I love Post Honey Bunches of Oats that these are compared to. We won’t have to buy cereal for a long, long time

When I take a closer look at the photo though ~ it does show the 15 ounce box. I hope Amazon.com doesn’t make too many of these mistakes ~ it must be costly! Fast and free shipping too!!

Sweet Home Farm French Vanilla Granola with Almonds, 20.5 Ounce Boxes (Pack of
List Price: $27.56
Price: $12.00 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25.
You Save: $15.56 (56%)

Product Features
* Case of eight 20.5-ounce cartons of cereal (total of 164 ounces)
* Flakes and oat clusters with almonds
* 100% natural