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HOPE SEES A STAR CHARITY AUCTION

There is a wonderful benefit Auction "Hope Sees A Star" (sponsored by the mixed media artist group ZNE) that began today in honor of two beautiful young woman who lost their lives this last year. Stevie McMoyler (daughter of artist Gina Gabriell) and Brianna Grant (daughter of artist Iva Wilcox) each lost their battle with illness and the artist community has shared in their grief and mourning. This auction will help raise funds for a memorial in their names. Many artists have contributed artwork . One of the pieces I contributed is the necklace *SHOW YOUR FAITH* pictured above.

You can fine more information at the ZNE website.

FALL is in the air

Snow on the mountains for the first time......ah, the short days of Winter coming soon.....the time to go "inside"

In the Winter, I read more, make more art, and generally stay insode myself.

Summer is for going "outside"......

Find more photos like this on ZNE Network

READING AND WEIGHT LOSS

One of the groups at SHELFARI.COM had started a reading weight loss challenge......how fun is this!!!!!

Dog Days

The entire month of July was a loss here due to the incredible heat. Now we are fully into FIRE SEASON and the smoke is unreal. The valley is socked in and 85,000 acres are burning....VERY SAD.


I have started a painting (watercolor for now) based on these flowers from a wedding we attended in June.


I am not making any jewelry right now, so I am reading a LOT! Enjoying the people and book suggestions at SHELFARI.

OUR LADY PIN

Our Lady of Medjugorje kilt pin:





ON EBAY

NEW WORK in WEARABLE ART

I've been busy making a lot of things......waiting for Summer to REALLY begin.....

Princess Diana altered art charm bracelet












FAIRY FIRST STEPS PENDANT:



















Both available on EBAY in my store

NEW ASSEMBLAGE~~Fairy Bed time

Fairy Bedtime Assemblage




AVAILABLE ON EBAY

Took a bit of a break

Haven't worked since before the MEMORIAL DAY HOLIDAY....so today was fun. Here's what I made:

available on EBAY

WORLD WIDE ARTIST TAG

Friend and fellow Wetcanvas member Tina Mammoser has tagged me! It's a blog game of tag amongst artists. Thanks for the tag, Tina!

These are the tagging rules:

1. List 7 random facts/habits about yourself.
2. Choose another 7 bloggers to tag and list their names in your blog.
3. Leave your 7 tagged bloggers comments to notify them of their tagging and to direct them to your blog for tag instructions.

My random facts:
1. I have chocolate time every day around 3PM
2. I have lived in 8 states
3. I have been a nurse, social worker, psychotherapist, business owner, Mom,
wife, administrator, and artist-in-waiting
4. I love to gourmet cook
5. If I had the money I would TRAVEL all the time.
6. My favorite color is purple
7. I LOVE the WWW.....it's the first and last thing I do every day.



My tags:

Elizabeth Leahy Australian Artist

Nana Lau , NY artist

Marvin Chew, Singapore artist

Beverly Fagan Gilbertson, American Artist

Ruth Harris, UK artist

Laura Tasheiko, Maine Studio Artist

ASIA ALTERED ART BRACELET

BIG AND BOLD















AVAILABLE ON EBAY (CLICK HERE)

SAGRADA FAMILIA SHRINE

ASSEMBLAGE: HOLY FAMILY SHRINE




AVAILABLE ON EBAY (click here)

Female patron saints

FEMALE PATRON SAINTS charm bracelet







AVAILABLE ON EBAY (click here)

METAMORPHOSIS

Metamorphosis Fairy Shrine



http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=006&sspagename=STRK%3AMESE%3AIT&viewitem=&item=160106156450&rd=1&rd=1

NEW altered fairy pocket watch

Altered Pocket watch



http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=160102410818

FAIRY WITH A MESSAGE

FAIRY WITH A MESSAGE ACEO




http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=006&sspagename=STRK%3AMESE%3AIT&viewitem=&item=160101415127&rd=1&rd=1

NANCY DREW BRACELET

NANCY DREW BRACELET

AVAILABLE ON EBAY HERE

How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant of the weak and strong. Because someday in your life you will have been all of these.

George Washington Carver

TAROT EARRINGS

Altered vintage earrings 2 1/2 inches long

ALTERED KEY CHAIN ~~ HIP CLIP

To brighten up a purse, backpack or cell phone

Even looks cute just hanging from jeans pockets!!

GLOBAL WARMING???

Friday, March 02, 2007

Jim Wallis: Dobson and Friends, Outside the Mainstream, Get Personal on Global Warming

Once again, the hard-core Religious Right has gone on the attack, orchestrating a new campaign to advance their Far Right political views. In a letter to the chairman of the National Evangelical Association Board, James Dobson, Tony Perkins, Gary Bauer, and their cohorts claim that “The existence of global warming and its implications for mankind is a subject of heated controversy throughout the world.” And even more bizarre, there was another report this morning that in his sermon last Sunday, Jerry Falwell claimed the debate over global warming is a tool of Satan being used to distract churches from their primary focus of preaching the gospel. Falwell, Dobson, and their friends are wrong, and this time their attack shows just how far outside the evangelical mainstream the Religious Right's views have become.

The truth, which almost everyone except them acknowledges, is there is little reasonable doubt left about the threat posed to the earth by climate change. There is an international consensus among scientists, religious leaders, business leaders, and economists that we must act, and act now, to preserve a world for our children. Just a month ago, the leading international network of climate change scientists, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, concluded for the first time that global warming is "unequivocal" and that it is with 90% certainty due to human activity. The New York Times called the report “a bleak and powerful assessment of the future of the planet....” You can read the full report.

But the Religious Right is also now personally targeting the NAE’s vice president for governmental affairs, Rich Cizik. They claim that Cizik is “dividing and demoralizing the NAE” by orchestrating a “relentless campaign” opposing global warming. And they end by suggesting that “he be encouraged to resign his position with the NAE.”

Cizik, far from dividing evangelicals, is part of a broad evangelical consensus on global warming. He is a respected evangelical leader who is bringing Christians together to address the growing danger of climate change, and is literally a hero to a new generation of evangelical students and pastors. That new generation has made “creation care” a mainstream evangelical issue. A statement last year by the Evangelical Climate Initiative, signed by 86 national evangelical leaders, including 39 Christian college presidents, noted that “we are convinced that evangelicals must engage this issue without any further lingering over the basic reality of the problem or humanity's responsibility to address it.” The statement added: “Love of God, love of neighbor, and the demands of stewardship are more than enough reason for evangelical Christians to respond to the climate change problem with moral passion and concrete action.”

Sen. John McCain, in an op-ed with Sen. Joe Lieberman, recently declared: “The debate has ended over whether global warming is a problem caused by human activity. … There is now a broad consensus in this country, and indeed in the world, that global warming is happening, that it is a serious problem, and that humans are causing it.” In a powerful commentary in this morning's Washington Post, "The Climate Change Precipice", David Ignatius wrote, "The scientific debate about whether there is a global warming problem is pretty much over. ... Skeptical researchers will continue to question the data, but this isn't a 'call both sides for comment’ issue anymore. For mainstream science, it's settled."

But the Religious Right is so used to being able to veto debates by their proclamations that when they see they are losing, they go on the attack. So if they think the debate is not over, let’s have a debate. We will respond; stay tuned next week.

posted by God's Politics @ 4:18 PM | Permalink |

BLUE WILLOW CHINA bracelet

When I was in South America last month, I saw some silver work made from broken pieces of vintage china. This bracelet is my tribute to that idea.







Available on EBAY with more photos...click here

LAUGH IN altered art bracelet

REMEMBER the show????

Bracelet available on EBAY

new charm bracelet in GOLD

YOGA charm bracelet in gold




http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=006&sspagename=STRK%3AMESE%3AIT&viewitem=&item=160091149298&rd=1&rd=1

NURSE'S DAY MAY 12

NURSE ALTERED ART CHARM BRACELET



AVAILABLE ON EBAY

GONE WITH THE WIND

available on EBAY

BACK HOME

Our trip to South America was marvelous...we saw everything from cathedrals, to glaciers and penguins.












We ate gourmet foods, drank wonderful wines and thoroughly enjoyed the people and the culture:








Since being back, I have been obsessed with making charm bracelets from altered objects and vintage doo-dads

BEAUTY IN BLACK AND WHITE

Travel

I will be out of the country for 3 weeks visiting South America ...hope to bring back new ideas and a fresh outlook.

COLLAGE A DAY

The Cost of War

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Jim Wallis: The Cost of War

I was struck this morning by a column in The New York Times business section by David Leonhardt. He explores the question of What $1.2 Trillion Can Buy. He notes how difficult it is for us to understand so large a number, then says:

The way to come to grips with $1.2 trillion is to forget about the number itself and think instead about what you could buy with the money. When you do that, a trillion stops sounding anything like millions or billions.

For starters, $1.2 trillion would pay for an unprecedented public health campaign — a doubling of cancer research funding, treatment for every American whose diabetes or heart disease is now going unmanaged and a global immunization campaign to save millions of children's lives.

Combined, the cost of running those programs for a decade wouldn't use up even half our money pot. So we could then turn to poverty and education, starting with universal preschool for every 3- and 4-year-old child across the country. The city of New Orleans could also receive a huge increase in reconstruction funds.

The final big chunk of the money could go to national security. The recommendations of the 9/11 Commission that have not been put in place — better baggage and cargo screening, stronger measures against nuclear proliferation — could be enacted. Financing for the war in Afghanistan could be increased to beat back the Taliban's recent gains, and a peacekeeping force could put a stop to the genocide in Darfur.

All that would be one way to spend $1.2 trillion. Here would be another:

The war in Iraq.

Leonhardt says his estimate of the eventual cost of the Iraq war is conservative, noting, "I didn't even attempt to put a monetary value on the more than 3,000 American deaths in the war." And, one could add, the value of the more than 20,000 physically wounded.

Another news story in USA Today highlighted a different aspect of the war: "An experienced Navy psychologist warns that the U.S. military does not have enough mental health professionals to meet the growing number of emotionally damaged war veterans." Navy Commander Mark Russell says that "Mental health trauma is on the rise. … Training for mental health professionals is inadequate. … Staffing is down."

The war goes on; the cost in money and lives continues to grow. As I ended my last blog on Iraq, unjust wars cause massive human suffering. When will we ever learn?

I agree with Jim Wallis

When the American people make it clear in the election, and in every public opinion poll, that they want an end to the war in Iraq, he ignores them. When the central recommendation of the bipartisan Iraq Study Group is "new and enhanced diplomatic and political efforts…that will enable the United States to begin to move its combat forces out of Iraq responsibly," he ignores them. When Republican Senators across the spectrum – from Susan Collins (ME) and Olympia Snowe (ME) to Sam Brownback (KS) and Gordon Smith (OR), and respected foreign policy expert Chuck Hagel (NE) – oppose his plan, he ignores them. (" … a dangerously wrongheaded strategy that will drive America deeper into an unwinnable swamp," says Hagel.) When the top U.S. military commanders in Iraq question the strategy, he replaces them.

George W. Bush is determined to continue making war in Iraq. I agree with Bush on one point – we need a new strategy in Iraq. But last night, George Bush decided to escalate the war and increase the American occupation – which he still doesn't seem to realize is at the center of the problem. Bush stubbornly believes that military solutions are always the best answer and consistently chooses war over politics. But without a political solution in Iraq, no escalation of the war will succeed. Whether in Iraq, or even in the larger war on terrorism, Bush believes, as he said again last night, that we are in a great "ideological struggle" between us and them, good and evil – and that only military solutions against "them" will suffice. Both wisdom and humility (two religious virtues) suggest that political and diplomatic resolutions to conflict are ultimately required. But last night, Bush again chose the primacy of military solutions.

By sending 20,000 more U.S. troops in support of a Shiite-dominated government, into a conflict that has become a sectarian civil war, he has essentially rejected the idea of a unified Iraqi government. Today, the idea of there even being a government in Iraq is another myth of Bush rhetoric, and for the young servicemen and women who daily die, it is a cruel joke to learn we have no real partners in Iraq. There is no real commitment to "democracy" among Iraq's leaders, a goal that Bush again invoked last night; there is only endless sectarian violence – with the government forces themselves acting simply as part of the tribal warfare. The depraved scene of Saddam Hussein's hanging revealed more a revenge lynching than an act of national justice – and became a brutal metaphor for what Iraq has now become. American lives are now the prime targets of the insurgency, while they are also caught in the cross-fire of a civil war. To send more troops into battle in a senseless "surge," without any new plan for political resolution between Iraq's intransigent and hateful factions – is morally irresponsible. We've tried this before, and failed. A new surge will simply mean more young Americans in body bags and wheel chairs, more families left without dads, moms, sons, or daughters, and more slaughter of innocent Iraqi civilians. "I don't want to die over there; I don't think it's worth it," said one American serviceman who was interviewed this morning about the President's new plan. He and his new wife had a new baby just five days ago, but now he has been ordered back to Iraq. He named several of his friends who have new wives and babies on the way, who will now also be sent back.

By the classic criteria of a "just war," Iraq was not, and is not, one. Not even close. And at the time of the run-up to the war, a majority of church bodies and their leaders around the world said just that. Pope John Paul II was quite agitated about Iraq, and had he been a younger man, might have actually intervened to prevent the unjust war. Even most evangelical Christians around the globe were against the American war in Iraq, and continue to be – a fact that the U.S. media also missed. There were others, like the American Southern Baptists, who supported their president's war, but on an international scale they were clearly the exceptions.

There is absolutely no way that the American invasion of Iraq could be considered a "last resort" – one of the just war criteria. The inspections officers were working to find and contain any weapons of mass destruction Iraq might have had, and the Bush administration both misrepresented and manipulated the alleged threat from the weapons of mass destruction. The administration lied to start a war. Over time, the brutal Saddam Hussein could have been isolated, undermined, and overthrown (a very worthy goal) from pressures internal and external, and serious proposals were on the table to do just that when Bush went to war. Instead we bombed the children of Baghdad and then allowed the country to slide into bloody chaos. There was never adequate "authority" to wage this war (another criterion) – the United Nations, NATO, and the vast majority of the world's people and nations were against it. Only Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair thought this was a good idea, and their political legacies will be forever shaped by the worst foreign policy decision either country has made in decades. Iraq also failed the tests of "proportionality" and "discrimination" with all the societal damage it was likely to cause (and has): the horrible number of innocents that have been lost through the tactics of "shock and awe," the resulting insurgency against American occupation, and now the civil war that has turned into ethnic cleansing. There was never an "imminent threat" from Saddam, there was no connection between Iraq and 9/11 (as we were told), and Bush's war in Iraq was not a central front in the international campaign against terrorism, but rather has turned out to be a serious distraction from it (though the war itself has now transformed Iraq into a haven and school for terrorism).

The war in Iraq was unjust; to continue it now is criminal. There is no winning in Iraq. This was a war that should have never been fought – or won. It can't be won, and the truth is that there are no good solutions now – that's how unjust wars often turn out. The president says that "failure in Iraq would be a disaster for the United States." But we have already failed in Iraq and it has already become a disaster for Americans, Iraqis, the Middle East, and even for the larger campaign against terrorism. The mistaken war in Iraq can only be mercifully ended, in ways that cause the least damage to everyone involved: the Americans and the Iraqis, the volatile surrounding region, and a world longing for security. It will likely take new international leadership to help fix the mess of Iraq, because U.S. leadership has brought one calamity after another. Unjust wars cause massive human suffering. When will we ever learn?

A new year

A new year....resolutions, ideas, new starts.

Many people have different ways of seeing the new year. To me it is just more days to live each day, one day at a time.


Today's art offering:

ZEN Blocks

a puzzle, a meditation shrine, an art play thing

AVAILABLE ON EBAY

COLLAGE A DAY

The goal of this project is to help me overcome a slump in my painting....I was very "off" last year for months and would like to begin again.


I am painting a few pieces for a challenge at WETCANVAS

I am going to South America in a couple weeks and hope that will also help.

BEYOND THE SEA ALTERED CHARM BRACELET

AVAILABLE ON EBAY:

Collage a day

The Veil


















I also started making some altered jewelry over the holidays....bracelets mostly so far: