Who Changed The Locks On The Door

Imagine you are in your jammies with your coffee and you think I wonder what my online friends are up to and I need something new to knit. Where do you go to, Ravelry of course, doesn't everyone? Now you pull the page up, login and get a message that says 403 Forbidden. What, must be server problems, so you try again several times only to get the same message. Well this can't be right, so you buzz over to email some of your friends and find they have the same message. Ok so maybe the server is down or acting up but then wait there is something that says to contact legal at ravelry. Uh oh, that can't be good -- contact legal, immediateley thinking oh crap what did I do now.

Well after much time is spent you find out you have been banned from Ravelry. What, banned from Ravelry, it is a knitting site, how can I be banned from Ravelry. But my friends, my patterns, my library of books, stash, etc is there, what if I am a designer trying to sell my patterns or yarn, I have pictures up, i am a moderator of a group, I am in a swap, and the list goes on and on. Essentially you can have a lot of your life tied up in Ravelry.

I will not go into the details of who got banned and why because I am not sure anyone is getting a straight story no matter what side you are on, but I do believe those who were banned deserve the following:

In all reality those banned should have been notified the locks on the Ravelry door had been changed and why; a straight honest answer as to why exactly they were banned, none of the crap they have been fed, we all know the real reason but it needs to be said. They should also be given time to login and capture whatever they may need to, find new moderators for their groups, and to address any swaps, etc they may be in. I do believe that if anything is posted it does not belong to Ravelry and those who have purchased patterns, etc need to be able to retrieve their purchase. There are some who were truly caught up in the grand locking event and I believe each case needs to be addressed individually. Some use Ravelry as a livelihood and now they not only have their careers destroyed but their reputation as well.

As I have perused more of Ravelry this week than I care to because it was obvious I stayed in my own little world, I had no idea the vile, ugliness, and filth that is allowed on the website. There are children here who don't need to be exposed to this stuff, heck I don't even want to be exposed to this stuff. Tell me what crotch shots have to do with knitting? Is there good stuff on Ravelry, absolutely, I have got lots of free help, free patterns, and the best thing is I have met the most wonderful bunch of people that you could ever call a friend. Had I known what was on the other side of Ravelry I would never have joined but then I would never have met my friends, a double edged sword.

There are some groups I am still interested in keeping my membership in, I do enjoy surfing the patterns and learn things, but my time in Ravelry will be very small from now on and my own little world has just become tighter.

Ravelry can be a good site but I suggest that if you keep the vile and filth there be an adult only section with a seperate login and password, that groups not be allowed, that it truly be a sharing of knitting and crochet information. Ravelry could be good, but not the way it is now.

There's a New Blog in Town

So there is a new blog out there worth reading if you favor yourself a conservative from a woman's point of view. http://motherofallconservatives.com/

Some good reading so far and they have the cutest pig picture on their side bar.

Stupid Things in the Paper

There is so much negativity in the paper and so many things that just make me angry, that I thought I would post the really stupid stuff just because we all need a laugh.

Firt Pierce, Florida: A man shoved a Klondike bar down his pants and then offered a Texaco station store owner $69 not to turn him in for shoplifting. The 65 year old man tried to sneak the Klondike bar, a package of Ramen noodles, and Famous Amos cookies out of the store without paying. The owner called the police and the man is being held on retail theft and violation of probation charges.

Racine, Wisconsin: A deputy in his underwear teamed up with a bank president to track down an alleged drunk driver. The deputy was home when a pickup truck hit a light pole and skidded into his front yard and kept going. The deputy gave chase on foot wearing a T-shirt, boxers, and socks. The bank president was driving by and witnessed the commotion. He motioned for the deputy to get in and together they followed the driver. A few blocks away they nabbed the 32 year old and he was cited for operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated and other offenses.

Key West, Florida: Playing a Frank Sinatra classic on a conch shell helped a local bicycle tour operator take top honors in an unusual musical competion in Key West. Judges evaluated contest entrants ranging from 3 years old to seniors on the quality, novelty, duration and loudness of the sounds they produced. The winning group entry was an 18 piece conchestra whose members blew their shells while dancing to a parody of Jimmy Buffet's "Volcano."

Philadelphia: Employees of a pet store expecting to get a shipment of tropical fish and salt water by air cargo ended up getting a human body instead. The body they got was of a 65 year old San Diego man who died and was supposed to go to a lab in Allentown so samples could be taken for medical research. US Airways apologized.

And of course the narcissist octamom: Nadya Suleman is busy preparing to move to a new house and 4 of the babies are healthy enough to leave the hospital. She made money from selling photos of her babies and has put the money into escrow for the new home near LA. Her father is buying the 2583 square foot home which lists for $564,900. She says some of the money will go into a trust for the care of her 14 children. (Some people should never be allowed to have one child let alone 14.)

Hope this helped to deal with the world a little better today and put a smile on your face.

Letters to Write

I have never been more invested in an election in this country that this past one for the POTUS. Even though the right person lost, we can still show support for what we believe by writing letters and letting our beliefs and values known.

My distaste for how the PM of Britain was treated is beyond words. If you want to let the PM know how you feel you can write him a letter at: Sir Nigel Elton Sheinwald KGMG
British Embassy
3100 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, D.C. 20008

Also don't forget the Tea Party. On April 1 send a tea bag in an envelope preferably a red one to the POTUS at: The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., Washington , D.C. 20500 Make sure add on the back of the envelope "In God We Trust."

I have to say I am ashamed at how Americans are acting, when did we become this country of the government owes me because? Remember what JFK said "Ask not what your country can do for you but what can you do for your country?"

May God have mercy on us for He is the only one who can get us through this mess.

Bearack Obama

The photo captures a disturbing trend that is beginning to affect
wildlife in the US . After a sweeping Democratic Party victory in the
November elections, animals that were formerly self-sufficient are
already modifying their behavior to take advantage of what they expect to
be a new set of societal norms in the next four to eight years. This
black bear from Montana has ceased hunting for a living and is sitting
outside the US Fish & Wildlife Service office in Kalispell, apparently

waiting to be fed and to have his winter den dug by government employees.
The residents of Kalispell are calling him "Bearack Obama".

Ben and Jerry's Keeps Their Pints Pints

So remember when coffee went from a three pound can to a not three pound can but they still charged the same amount of money? How many other items do we buy that went smaller but still charged the same price. Well, it seems now an ice cream company wants to reduce the size of a pint from 16-14 ounces and still charge the same. But not B&J they are keeping the 16 ounce pint for the same money. I can only imagine who the other company is but I won't mention that I think it is HD.

So straight from the cows mouth here is B&J's take on downsizing:
One of our competitors (think funny sounding European name) recently announced they will be downsizing their pints from 16 to 14 ounces to cover increased ingredient & manufacturing costs and help improve their bottom line. At Ben & Jerry’s we think downsizing pints is downright wrong. We understand that in today’s hard economic times businesses are feeling the pinch. We also understand that many of you are also feeling the same, & think now more than ever you deserve your full pint of ice cream.
We are even more committed today to lead with our values through the quality of our ingredients & how we source them to make the best ice cream possible. So, while our competitor may be experiencing a bit of shrinkage, rest assured that your Ben & Jerry’s will still be standing tall in the freezer. Enjoy!

Butter or Oleo?

Most people think butter is bad for them but in all reality it is much better for you than oleo. I never cared for the taste of butter except in baked goods which I always used butter for. Several years ago I learned exactly what oleo was. Do you know what it is?

They have the same calories except butter has 8g saturated fat compared to 5g in oleo. Oleo can increase heart disease in women by 53% over eating the same amount of butter. Butter increases the absorption of many other nutrients in other foods. Butter has been around for centuries where oleo has been around for less than 100 years and the list goes on.

Oleo is very high in trans fatty acids, triples the risk of coronary heart disease, increases total cholesterol and LDL, increases the risk of cancers up to 5 times, lowers quality of breast milk, decreases immune response, decreases insulin resonse, and is ONE molecule from being plastic.

Put a tub of oleo in your garage. Flies won't even go near it, it does not rot or smell differently because it has no nutritional value, nothing will grow on it, not even those teeny weeny microorganisms.

Ask yourself this, would you melt your tupperware container and spread it on your toast?

Ugh! Oprah Shows Her Arrogance AGAIN!

This morning driving to work I was listening to Chris Stigall on CONSERVATIVE Talk Radio. He was talking about an article in the paper today where O wants people who are homeless for the first time to send in their story and then she will pick some appropriate people to be on her show. You have to be middle class, two parents, you know basically June and Ward Cleaver. One of the homeless shelters here is all upset because one workers says she has many first time homeless but they don't fit the pretty picture O wants. O thinks if she touts a perfect homeless family on her show it will make the rest of us relate to them more. Get real O, you just want to flaunt your riches and make us think you care, which we all know you don't.

So Chris says he wants his listeners to do something completely different, send in your good things that have happened to you in the past year, so here is my list: my niece graduated from High School and I got to attend, I went to Italy, my fav aunt came to visit last year, my racoon home invasion turned into a positive as it fixed some things wrong with my house, my parents are still both alive and healthy, i will retire in less than two years with a pension where I will be comfortable, I like my job, I found a new in person knitting group which I think will turn out to be a good thing, it is almost Spring.

What is on your list?

Why Are We So Ugly?

Yesterday I was perusing one of the groups I lurk in on Ravelry. The thread was talking about the new sock kits from KnitPicks. I looked at them but decided it would be a purchase for another day. The thread started with someone asking the question if the 3 different kits contained different sock patterns, you get 12 skeins of fingering weight in the same colorway with different pieces of the sock pattern so you can mix and match. The next response said there were approximately 3000 different socks you could come up with. The next response jumped all over the lady who came up with the roughly 3000 patterns possible. She questioned her math, said she got a different number, blah blah blah. Why would you do that. I know there is a formula for figuring out that kind of stuff but why not just leave it alone, and do what I did wow imagine knitting 3000 pairs of socks. Why do we have to be so ugly, when did American become a nation of ugly people who have to get in others faces and be rude and ugly? What purpose did it serve? It pissed me off and I did not finish reading the thread. I have noticed there are many ugly people on Ravelry, do you not have a life, no real face to face friends, so you come on line and become rude and ugly because your life sucks? STOP IT!

From The London Daily Mail

The night we waved goodbye to America. . . our last best hope on Earth
London Daily Mail
Peter Hitchens
10 November 2008

Anyone would think we had just elected a hip, skinny and youthful replacement for God, with a plan to modernize Heaven and Hell - or that at the very least John Lennon had come back from the dead.

The swooning frenzy over the choice of Barack Obama as President of the United States must be one of the most absurd waves of self-deception and swirling fantasy ever to sweep through an advanced civilization. At least Mandela-worship - its nearest equivalent - is focused on a man who actually did something. I really don't see how the Obama devotees can ever in future mock the Moonies, the Scientologists or people who claim to have been abducted in flying saucers. This is a cult like the one which grew up around Princess Diana, bereft of reason and hostile to facts.

It already has all the signs of such a thing. The newspapers which recorded Obama's victory have become valuable relics. You may buy Obama picture books, and Obama calendars, and if there isn't yet a children's picture version of his story, there soon will be. Proper books, recording his sordid associates, his cowardly voting record, his astonishingly militant commitment to unrestricted abortion and his blundering trip to Africa, are little-read and hard to find.

If you can believe that this undistinguished and conventionally Left-wing machine politician is a sort of secular savior, then you can believe anything. He plainly doesn't believe it himself. His
cliche-stuffed, PC clunker of an acceptance speech suffered badly from nerves. It was what you would expect from someone who knew he'd promised too much and that from now on the easy bit was over.

He needn't worry too much. From now on, the rough boys and girls of America 's Democratic Party apparatus, many recycled from Bill Clinton's stained and crumpled entourage, will crowd round him, to collect the rich spoils of his victory and also tell him what to do, which is what he is used to. Just look at his sermon by the shores of Lake Michigan He really did talk about a 'new dawn', and a 'timeless creed' (which was 'yes, we can'). He proclaimed that 'change has come'.
He revealed that, despite having edited the Harvard Law Review, he doesn't know what 'enormity' means. He reached depths of oratorical drivel never even plumbed by our own Mr. Blair, burbling about putting our hands on the arc of history (or was it the ark of history?) and bending it once more toward the hope of a better day (Don't try this at home!).

I am not making this up. No wonder that awful old hack Jesse Jackson sobbed as he watched. How he must wish he, too, could get away with this sort of stuff.

And it was interesting how the President-elect failed to lift his admiring audience by repeated - but rather hesitant - invocations of the brainless slogan he was forced by his minders to adopt against his will - 'Yes, we can'. They were supposed to thunder 'Yes, we can!' back at him, but they just wouldn't join in. No wonder. Yes we can what exactly? Go home and keep a close eye on the tax rate, is my advice. He'd have been better off bursting into 'I'd like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony' which contains roughly the same message and might have attracted some valuable commercial sponsorship.

Perhaps, being a Chicago crowd, they knew some of the things that 52.5 per cent of America prefers not to know. They know Obama is the obedient servant of one of the most squalid and unshakeable political machines in America. They know that one of his alarmingly close associates, a state-subsidized slum landlord called Tony Rezko, has been convicted on fraud and corruption charges.

They also know the US is just as segregated as it was before Martin Luther King - in schools, streets, neighborhoods, holidays, even in its TV-watching habits and its choice of fast-food joints. The difference is that it is now done by unspoken agreement rather than by law.

If Mr. Obama's election had threatened any of that, his feel-good white supporters would have scuttled off and voted for John McCain, or practically anyone. But it doesn't. Mr. Obama, thanks mainly to the now-departed grandmother he alternately praised as a saint and denounced as a racial bigot, has the huge advantages of an expensive private education. He did not have to grow up in the badlands of useless schools, shattered families and gangs which are the lots of so many young black men of his generation.

If the nonsensical claims made for this election were true, then every positive discrimination program aimed at helping black people into jobs they otherwise wouldn't get should be abandoned forthwith. Nothing of the kind will happen. On the contrary, there will probably be more of them And if those who voted for Obama were all proving their anti-racist nobility, that presumably means that those many millions who didn't vote for him were proving themselves to be hopeless bigots. This is obviously untrue.

I was in Washington, DC the night of the election. America 's beautiful capital has a sad secret. It is perhaps the most racially divided city in the world, with 15th Street - which runs due north from the White House - the unofficial frontier between black and white. But, like so much of America, it also now has a new division, and one, which is in many ways much more important. I had attended an election-night party in a smart and liberal white area, but was staying the night less than a mile away on the edge of a suburb where Spanish is spoken as much as English, plus a smattering of tongues from such places as Ethiopia, Somalia andAfghanistan. As I walked, I crossed another of Washington 's secret frontiers. There had been a few white people blowing car horns and shouting, as the result became clear. But among the Mexicans, Salvadorans and the other Third World nationalities, there was something like ecstasy.

They grasped the real significance of this moment. They knew it meant that America had finally switched sides in a global cultural war. Forget the Cold War, or even the Iraq War. The United States, having for the most part a deeply conservative people, had until now just about stood out against many of the mistakes which have ruined so much of the rest of the world.

Suspicious of welfare addiction, feeble justice and high taxes, totally committed to preserving its own national sovereignty, unabashedly Christian in a world part secular and part Muslim, suspicious of the Great Global Warming panic, it was unique. These strengths had been fading for some time, mainly due to poorly controlled mass immigration and to the march of political correctness. They had also been weakened by the failure of America 's conservative party - the Republicans - to fight on the cultural and moral fronts. They preferred to posture on the world stage.
Scared of confronting Left-wing teachers and sexual revolutionaries at home, they could order soldiers to be brave on their behalf in far-off deserts. And now the US, like Britain before it, has begun the long slow descent into the Third World. How sad.

Where now is our last best hope on Earth?

Ravelry

I don't remember how I found out about Ravelry, guess it does not matter now. I signed up because based on what I had read and previewed it looked like a great place for me to get my knitting organized if nothing else. I eagerly awaited my place inline to become accepted as a member. The day finally came, I had my name picked out and created my profile. I have added some of my stash in various areas and some projects but have never really had the time to devote to working my own little space there.

After the incident this week of having my group removed due to political issues I debated whether I wanted to remain a part of this large international group. I decided to stay based on the fact that I love the ladies in my now defunct group, they are my online family. I have learned so much from them, we laugh together, we cry together, we love together, we pray for each other, we have so many likenesses in common but mostly our love for America and wanting to see it prosper as the country we know and love. We create afghans for those conservatives who mean a lot to us and have online baby showers. I do belong to other groups but am not real active in them, but I still get "stuff" from them.

I still think Ravelry is a great place to use as a crafter. I do not feel however that many of the groups that are allowed to exist should be on there. I noticed the other day a young child who was just learning to knit, if I was his mother I would not want him exposed to the vulgarity of speech and ravatars, the group such as crotch shots and those discussing their periods and some of the general ugliness. I would hope after this incident that the moderators of Ravelry would step back, take off their liberal glasses and re-adjust to make Ravelry the great place it could be.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SARAH

Today is Sarah Palin's birthday. And yes I do celebrate the day because she is one woman I can truly believe in and yes she would make a good POTUS and do what is right for this country. All you liberals, just wait you have not seen the last of her yet no matter how ugly you are towards her and her followers, we will not be stopped.

The Fairness Doctrine Starts in Ravelry

I am a proud member of The Bunker on Ravelry. If you think Obarfey's new policy of: Get in their face and yell at them til them believe like I do is not alive and well, then you have been hiding under a rock. One of our members has posted on her blog. I plan on writing more later, but I need to calm down before I do. If you are a conservative, be careful it has started, we will be silenced, just wait and see.

\http://graniterose.blogspot.com/2009/02/ravelry-practices-censorship.html