As mentioned in Part I of our 2008 retrospective series, this was a year of ups and downs for America.  From politics to the economy, the sudden changes engendered a virtual case of whiplash as tides turned on a dime and fortunes were reversed on Main Street, Wall Street, and at seemingly unlikely location of the local gas pump.

Gay Marriage / Prop 8

In May of 2008, the California Supreme Court overturned the gay marriage ban, noting that the fundamental “right to marry” extended to same-sex couples equally.  While gay couples around the country celebrated a stride in the name of equal rights, opponents of gay marriage scrambled to introduce an initiative to the November ballot in order to alter the California State Constitution, thus deeming same-sex marriage unconstitutional.

Thousands of gay couples, many of whom had waited years to have their unions legalized, rushed out between May and November to tie the knot under the law of California.  All in all, over 10,000 couples were married in the three months following the May ruling – more than were married in the first four years after Massachusetts legalized gay marriage.

The November ballot initiative, Proposition 8, was primarily supported both financially and vocally by religious organizations – most notably the Mormon and Catholic Churches.  The official Yes on 8 (ProtectMarriage.com) camp estimates that about half of the $35.8 million raised came from the Mormon Church and its members, which also supplied volunteers in such large numbers that 80-90% of the early door-to-door canvassers were actually out-of-state members of the Mormon church.

The battle over Prop 8 was touch-and-go down to the wire.  The measure passed by a margin of 4%, leading gay marriage and equal rights proponents to a series of post-election protests.  Supporters of a repeal will argue about the Proposition being unconstitutional, and that it violates the separation of Church and State; those who passed the measure will argue that the will of the people is the final word.  This argument is of course far from over; on November 19th, the California Supreme Court accepted three lawsuits challenging Proposition 8.

Since the May ruling and the subsequent November election, we saw a flurry of gay marriage, equal rights and Prop 8 t-shirts be created and bought as folks decided to voice their opinions in a more public manner than the ballot box.  Of course, California wasn’t the only state to have anti-gay marriage initiatives on their November ballots; Florida and Arizona passed similar laws, and Arkansas passed a measure to prevent gay couples from adopting children.

What the future holds for gay couples and their rights is uncertain, and at this point it seems that it’ll take a lot of time, lawyers and money to determine it.  One thing’s for sure: when religion and civil rights clash as a political issue, there is never an easy solution.

Wall Street Bailout(s)

Early in 2008, we saw a troubled mortgage industry lead way to some bank failures and dramatic government bailouts.  Bear Stearns was the first to make headlines, but it most certainly wasn’t the last.  By early September,  Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were taken over by the government.  By mid-September the government bailed out AIG, which showed its gratitude by treating executives to a $440,000 corporate retreat a week later.

Around the time that AIG executives were golfing and hitting the sauna, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson announced his plan for a taxpayer-funded bailout of Wall Street so that We the People could foot the bill for AIG’s $25K in spa treatments.  The plan allowed him to spend $700 billion in taxpayer money without any oversight, and was met with raised eyebrows by much of the American public and political leaders.

While political pundits had managed to avoid head-on discussion of the financial crisis for previous 6 months by arguing back and forth on semantics as to whether or not this kind of action (i.e. the Bear Stearns rescue) was a “bailout,” those days were over.  It was bailout time, and Paulson warned that the time was now.

In a nutshell: The Paulson plan proposed to use American taxpayer money to buy distressed mortages in order to prevent a banking collapse.  But would it work?

As it turns out, we’ll never know.  The Paulson plan was shot down in the Congress, despite Bush and McCain both pushing Republicans to pass it.  An amended version of the plan – known officially as the Emergency Economic Stablization Act – did pass 2 days later.  And yet we’ll still never know if the plan would have worked, because Paulson decided he didn’t want to buy those crappy mortgages after all.  Of course, to be fair, perhaps the reason he changed his mind is because some of those distressed mortgages don’t actually exist.  Whoops.  Hmm, if only China would buy the “imaginary debt” story…

The mortgage crisis and resulting fallout led, unsurprisingly, to a personal credit crisis.  And this of course leads us into…

Big 3 Bailout

The latter part of November brought us an early version of Christmas alms, as General Motors, Ford and United Auto Workers showed up in Washington to request a 25 billion dollar bailout from the government.

Of course, given the state of the American economy as a whole, the fact that the taxpayers had just bailed out a bunch of banks, GM CEO Richard Wagoner’s salary increase in 2008 despite GM’s losses since 2005, the fact that Honda and Toyota maintain American plants that employ American auto workers, GM’s aggressive investment in China (thus giving thousands of auto industry jobs to Chinese citizens, while simultaneously claiming that America needs this bailout to save American jobs), and the fact that the American auto industry has spent the past decade proudly and churlishly churning out SUV’s rather than moving toward smaller, fuel-efficient vehicles in spite of a global oil shortage and a war in the Middle East…

Well, all of those things added up were and are a recipe for the aforementioned collective sigh on behalf of the American people.  As well as a whole lotta t-shirts.

The original bailout plan was rejected.  It’s worth noting that the CEO’s didn’t do themselves any favors by using private jets for their trip to D.C..  Likewise, when Ford CEO Alan Mullaly was asked whether he’d accept $1 for a salary (down from his $666,667 salary – yes, that’s the real number, so it’s a good thing he wasn’t asked to subtract $1), his smarmy “I think I’m fine where I’m at” response didn’t exactly endear him or his cause to the members of Congress or to the American taxpayers.

So the CEO’s went back to the drawing board (read: Detroit), and returned again a few weeks later in hybrid vehicles to ask for their money again.  Despite 2 of them putting the corporate jets on the auction block, this time they wanted $34 billion.  But they weren’t asking for a “bailout.”  No, no.  They just wanted a “bridge loan.”

Mmm hmm.

After a lot of back and forth, Bush came to the rescue with $17.4 billion of the taxpayer-funded $700 billion that wasn’t used to buy distressed and/or ficticious mortgages.

The Big 3 have made a lot of promises, including a focus on more fuel-efficient vehicles.  And that leads us to our last topic…

Gas Prices

Until very recently, gas prices were a major sticking point with American drivers throughout 2008.  As prices continued to climb, Americans watched in disbelief with hope that the worst would be over soon.  With President Bush apparently asleep at the wheel and without a roadmap to put an end to the seemingly non-stop price hike, drivers were left with 2 choices: grin and bear it, or find alternate solutions.

During the summer travel season gas was up to $4.00/gallon and up – which is to say that gas prices had moved beyond an annoying inconvenience and into a travel barrier.  Some folks, looking for productive ways to deal with the gas price crunch, channelled their frustration into creativity.

While gas prices have dropped since the election brought in a new President who’s already assembled the key players in his energy team, the robust collection of gas price t-shirts will forever serve as a reminder of a time when beer by the keg was cheaper than gas in some places.

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As mentioned in the first installment of our 2008 retrospective, 2008 was a year of ups and downs for America.  While the “Yes we can” spirit was most certainly a high point, four men in particular showed us the damage the lowest common denominator of humanity can do to others – and to themselves.

Eliot Spitzer

Eliot Spitzer, the (now former) Governor of New York, made headlines early in the year when he was linked to a high-end prostitution ring.  The former New York Attorney General, Spitzer made a name for himself as a white-collar watchdog, relentlessly prosecuting various financial fraud cases.  Indeed, Spitzer was the Governor who was going to bring ethics back to New York State… right up until his own (lipstick-sullied) white collar was grabbed by the Feds after a wiretap recorded him making arrangements to meet a high-priced prostitute at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C..

Spitzer was known alternatively as “Client 9” and “George Fox” by the Emporer’s Club VIP who serviced him, and used “George Fox” to check into the Mayflower.  (The actual George Fox, a friend of Spitzer’s, was less than thrilled at the latter pseudonym.)

As the sordid details of Spitzer’s long, customer-satisfied history with the Emporer’s Club came into the public eye – including the fact that he used taxpayer dollars to fly to and from his appointments – Spitzer decided to take a cue from Snagglepuss and exit, stage left.  He resigned on March 12 – 2 days after news of the scandal first broke – citing “personal failings.”  (We might note that Rod Blagojevich does not seem to be using the Spitzer Scandal Playbook.)

Although it was a mere 2 days of headlines before Governor Spitzer resigned, in that time we saw a flood of Spitzer t-shirts being created, from off-the-cuff Client 9 and Emporer’s Club designs to interesting political commentary.

Spitzer’s replacement, David Paterson, saved the media the trouble of digging up a scandal by simply admitting that he and his wife had both had extramarital affairs during a rocky point in the marriage.  Neither affair involved a business transaction, and this news was treated as a minor bump in New York’s gubernatorial turbulence.  Paterson has been at the helm ever since; he’s most recently charged with choosing Hillary Clinton’s Senate replacement.  Another bonus: he’s stuck with his habit of avoiding inappropriate financial transactions, a behavior that other Governors would be wise to adopt.  And that segues nicely into…

Rod Blagojevich

Just when you thought that Spitzer bumped out Larry “Wide Stance” Craig (still in office until 2009) as the disgraced politician least likely to be invited to this year’s neighborhood Christmas party, Rod Blagojevich one-upped Spitzer with a litany of federal corruption charges.  Among them:

1) Putting Obama’s Senate Seat for sale;

2) Extorting the Chicago Tribune by offering state help with the sale of Wrigley field in exchange for the dismissal of journalists who’d been critical of him;

3) Shaking down a Children’s Hospital

That last one, however, does make Blagojevich a shoo-in to play “Scrooge” in the Metropolitan Correctional Center’s production of “A Christmas Carol.”

The 3-year investigation that led to the arrest carries an indictment that lists various other charges and evidence, but Blagojevich has not resigned and, instead, returned to work.  He continues to assert his innocence and shows no signs of stepping down; not surprisingly, the influx of Blagojevich t-shirts continues to grow.

While the ImpeachRod.org folks had been calling for Blagojevich’s removal long before news of this scandal hit, the Illinois house has just recently begun looking into impeachment proceedings.  One interesting sidenote: with a 20% corruption rate for its senior officials in the past century, Illinois also has sent 3 of its last 7 Governors to jail.  If Blagojevich is convicted, Illinois will have a 50% imprisonment rate for its highest official.

Plaxico Burress

Wearing fitted pants isn’t just a fashion tip anymore; as New York Giant Plaxico Burress taught us all during a wild weekend in New York, it’s a good safety tip too.

Burress is in crosshairs other than his own after accidentally shooting himself in the leg in Manhattan’s LQ nightclub, where he’d been detained by security after he’d admitted he was packing heat. Explaining that his bling needed a nickel-plated bodyguard, Burress was allowed to enter the club with his gun.

Unfortunately, Burress ostensibly doesn’t believe in engaging a safety. Nor does he apparently find a gun holster to be a fashionable nightclub firearm accessory, as it would seem he was instead carrying his weapon in his waistband.

Gravity and clumsiness did the rest, as the gun slipped down his pants leg, Burress fumbled to catch it, and he shot himself in the thigh during the process.

On the bright side for Giants fans, Burress is arguably more skilled at handling footballs than he is at handling handguns. On the not-so-bright side, Burress just signed a $35 million dollar contract with the Giants and is now sidelined due to both a pulled hamstring and, more recently, a bullet hole in his leg.  As upset as Giants fans may be, Mayor Bloomberg seems even less forgiving.

While his future as a professional football player is unknown, it’s safe to assume that Burress has lost any chance at a celebrity endorsement deal with the NRA.

Bernard Madoff

Wall Street didn’t let politicians, sports figures and the auto industry steal the limelight for long this year.  Coming in at the wire, news broke of the largest Ponzi (pyramid) scheme in history, to the tune of $50 billion dollars.

Madoff was turned in by his sons after he admitted to them that his investment advisory business was “a giant Ponzi scheme.” Although both sons worked for Madoff’s company, it seems they were in the dark on the fraud… until Madoff decided to tell them about it, that is.

The list of defrauded investors is as long as it is impressive, including a variety of banks, the owner of the New York Mets, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and Steven Spielberg’s financial advisor.  Their actual or intended recourse is unknown at this point, as it will take years to unravel this house of Benjamins.  Although most victimes have declined to comment on the scandal, other people are speaking out for them via merchandise.

Many would assume that Madoff would be in custody, but they’d be wrong: he’s back at home in Manhattan with his wife Ruth. But he does have a curfew, so apparently bilking investors for $50 billion dollars gets you the same punishment as taking the skinny kid’s lunch money on the playground. No word on whether he was made to stand in the corner before heading home.

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2008 was a year of ups and downs – from politics to gas prices to the economy, this year was a mercurial one for America.

In winding down this 2008 we’re taking a look back at the four main themes we saw ’round these parts, with this post serving as the first installment.  As you may have guessed, one of the main themes of this year happens to also be the catch phrase of someone who inspired most a nation to believe it: Yes we can.  And as the shirts will tell you, yes we did.

But Barack Obama wasn’t the only person determined to succeed in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds this year.  There were others out there who put their noses to the grindstone and faced their challenges with the single-minded determination of an ant travelling uphill in a flood while carrying cargo 5 times its body weight.

Hillary Clinton

Hillary Clinton ran a campaign that had her as the Democratic front runner right up until Obama showed up in earnest.  Even when it seemed that the Obama train was running full speed ahead, she didn’t step out of the way.  When it seemed the numbers were insurmountable, she put her head down and stayed in it to win it.

And when political pundits started calling for her to drop out, Hillary ignored them with the bold determination to finish what she’d started.  Nobody was going to tell her she couldn’t win; ironically, Hillary embodied the “Yes We Can” spirit right down to her Primary Night Non-Concession Speech wherein it had been presumed that she would concede the race.  But she didn’t concede, and instead focused on the 18 million people who’d voted for her.

In the end, Yes We Can became a Well, We Tried Damn Hard for Hillary Clinton.  But that kind of grit didn’t go unnoticed by us – or the Obama camp – and so it is that Hillary, though she didn’t succeed as being the first female President of the United States, will in fact be our next Secretary of State.  So in a way, she succeeded in her mission to make it to the White House.  Yes,  she did.

Stand Up To Cancer

Stand Up To Cancer has a mission cure to cancer by funding the most cutting-edge research available.  Towards that end, SU2C partnered with an A-list celebrity lineup to produce a telethon that aired on all major networks and brought in over $100 million for cancer research.

In order to raise additional funds and help folks sport their support for a cure, Stand Up To Cancer launched an online shop carrying SU2C t-shirts, buttons, stickers and other gear.  All proceeds from the shop go towards curing cancer, thus allowing people to take part in a cure by virtue of their fashion choice.

SU2C was also the beneficiary of the “Fashion Rocks” broadcast that aired a week later.  This special brought together celebrities of sound, stage and style to celebrate fashion, music and the greater good.  An original song, “Just Stand Up,” was performed by a range of female artists – all wearing the Stand Up to Cancer t-shirt.

The Stand Up To Cancer camp believes that a cure for cancer – though a monumental task – is within reach.  Hats off to them for the “Yes, we can” spirit that dominated airwaves and reminded us all that banding together is the best way to fight the toughest battles.

T. Boone Pickens

Oil billionaire T. Boone Pickens has a plan for reducing both America’s dependency on and investment in foreign oil.  That plan hinges largely on the natural energy endemic to the Great Plains – the very force of nature that partnered with earth to define the Dust Bowl, has ruined uncountable hairdos and led to countless runaway kites…

Yep.  Wind.

The plan is, appropriately, called The Pickens Plan.  With American dependency on foreign oil having increased from 24% to 70% in the last 40 years, the plan goal is to lower that amount by at least 1/3.  Pickens calls the United States the “Saudi Arabia of wind power,” and notes that moving into wind will not only reduce our foreign energy investment,  but also revitalize the American Midwest with a new energy business.  While wind is the cornerstone of the Pickens Plan, it also calls for natural gas to be used in the trucking industry, as well as for a more concerted focus on solar and biofuels for the everyman consumer.

Pickens will also remind Americans not to get complacent with the recent fall in gas prices, noting that OPEC has spent the past several decades lowering oil prices whenever America gets serious about alternative energy.  To help their supporters spread the word about their vision, they have a Pickens Plan shop with merchandise available at cost.

Coming up with alternative energy solutions that plan to change the way that Americans live their everyday lives – as well as the American and global economies – may seem like a Herculean challenge, but T. Boone Pickens has a plan and he’s moving full-steam ahead.  Pickens seems to be running on the clean energy of sheer will, determination and the “Deliver a plan, plan to deliver” adage.  This style of effort, of course, is easily summed up by three little words: “Yes we can.”

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Most people consider building a snowman to be a family-friendly winter activity.  Heck, the snowman is a symbol of the very Christmas season, with its most famous member inspiring songs and animated specials about his corncob pipe and button nose and 2 eyes made out of coal.

And then there’s Snowzilla.  Whose eyes, in years past, have been made out of beer bottles.

Proving that size does matter, Snowzilla is 25 feet high this year and is getting his landlord (though thankfully not himself) in a lot of hot water.  Anchorage city officials have declared Snowzilla to be a public nuisance, and have told Snowzilla’s … er, owner/landord?… in past years to put a stop to his gigantic snowman-making.  Billy Powers, in whose yard the “very handsome” Snowzilla has been erected in the past by his own army of bio-elves (he has 7 children), claims that that he didn’t have anything to do with Snowzilla this time around.

Snowzilla was demolished by the order of the City this year, but mysteriously reappeared bigger and cheerier than ever shortly thereafter.  Powers claims he had nothing to do with Snowzilla’s reappearance, and credits “Christmas magic” for Snowzilla’s unexpected resurrection.

Which is to say that… well, Snowzilla happens.

Fans of Snowzilla have set up a Snowzilla shop and donation site in case Mr. Powers has legal fees that need to be covered.  Anchorage officials claim they’ll “deal with” the magical but unlawful reappearance of Snowzilla after Christmas.

A local news story has some nice pictures of Snowzilla, as well as an interview with a City Manager who probably never thought he’d be entering public office to make official press statements about the dangers of an abominable snowman.

Have a safe holiday weekend, and remember: size does matter.

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Here’s wishing all of you a very merry Christmas and happy holiday season from the CafePress crew.

Have a great holiday – eat well, enjoy yourself, and remember to be wary of Aunt Marnie’s lethal eggnog.  She always did tend to overdo certain ingredients…

Now for those of you who are scrambling for a last-minute gift, decoration or activity for house-bound hyperactive children pumped up on sugar (or adults pumped up on Aunt Marnie’s eggnog), here’s a practical and recession-chic crafting activity from one of our favorite DIY Shopkeepers, Jolene Sugarbaker:

I wonder if you could then dye the wreath with lime Jell-O, “Wizard of Oz” style… hmm.  Perhaps Jolene will experiment with this technique in a future installment…

We now bid you adieu with a holiday haiku:

It’s that time of year
Family, friends, fun, eggnog
Beware the fruitcake

We’ll see you all after the holiday!  Have a Merry Christmas.

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While this Presidential election was won by a large margin, the Senate election in Minnesota hearkens back to a previous Presidential election.  Too close for comfort, the Minnesota Senate race between SNL-alum-turned-Air-America-Reporter-turned-politican Al Franken and incumbent-likes-ads-with-bowlers-Norm Coleman is still undecided after Franken demanded a recount.

Hand recounts are required in Minnesota in races wherein the margin of victory is less than 1/2 of 1%.  On election night, Coleman was reported to have won by several hundred votes out of the nearly 2.9 million cast.

The bitter rivalry between the two candidates ensured that nobody would go quietly.  The race is still underway a month later, though it’s reported that Franken is leading by a few thousand votes. The recount has involved thousands of challenges, hundreds of lawyers and the State Supreme Court.  Most recently, the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear a Coleman challenge that 130 ballots were counted twice.  There’s also an issue with 1600 “improperly rejected” absentee ballots.

Which is to say that this race shows no sign of being over in 2008.  It’s too bad that former Governor Jesse Ventura isn’t still in office, as a WWE throwdown for the office might be considerably less bloody.

And so we award two Fantasy T-Wearer awards this week, though being that these are two campaigning politicians we’ll switch the t-shirt to a button.  May both men sport a “Never, never never give up” button with pride.  Appropriately, this is a Churchill quote.

And if they can’t even agree on wearing the same button, we have an alternate for Norm Coleman.

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Just when you thought the auto industry’s $35 billion bailout request sounded astronomical; when Blagojevich arrived on the scene as a new shoe-in for the heavily contended 2008 ClownLouse of the Year award; when we’d kind of almost forgotten about bailing out the banks earlier this year… Wall Street took back the headlines with news of the largest Ponzi (pyramid) scheme in history, to the tune of $50 billion dollars.

Bernard Madoff, former Chairman of the NASDAQ, was arrested last week for allegedly engineering an investment fraud scheme that may date back to the 1970’s.   How someone managed to perpetrate such a long-standing and far-reaching fraud scheme raises serious questions about the efficacy of the SEC, which seems to have been asleep at the switch an awful lot in recent history.  While sending Martha Stewart to jail may be a shining moment for investment fraud investigators, that daring nab is slightly overshadowed by fiascos like Enron, the Bear Stearns bailout, the mortgage crisis, and – last but most assuredly not least – Bernard Madoff.

Madoff was turned in by his sons after he admitted to them that his investment advisory business was “a giant Ponzi scheme.”  Although both sons worked for Madoff’s company, it seems they were in the dark on the fraud… until Madoff decided to tell them about it, that is.

While many would assume that Madoff would be in custody, he is instead back at home in Manhattan with his wife Ruth.  But he has a curfew, so apparently bilking investors for $50 billion dollars gets you the same punishment as taking the skinny kid’s lunch money on the playground.  No word on whether he was made to stand in the corner before heading home.

And so it is that Bernard Madoff wins a Fantasy T-Wearer award, with the “Cook The Books” sweatshirt here at left.  And we’ll give a second award to SEC Chairman Christopher Cox for, quite literally, passing the buck.  Or $50 million of them.

Congratulations, gentlemen.  You’ve certainly earned it.

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Art is a subjective commodity and medium.  An original Jackson Pollock may be priceless to some people and look like a kindergarten art project to others.  That being the case, it can be hard to put a price tag on an original piece of art.  And in the case of David Thorne, it was discovered that the market for original spider drawings are not, it would seem, well valued in the chiropractic field.

As follows is the heartfelt tale of an artist in a mercurial market trying to make a go of it:

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From: Jane Gilles Date: Wednesday 8 Oct 2008 12.19pm To: David Thorne Subject: Overdue account Dear David, Our records indicate that your account is overdue by the amount of $233.95. If you have already made this payment please contact us within the next 7 days to confirm payment has been applied to your account and is no longer outstanding. Yours sincerely, Jane Gilles From: David Thorne Date: Wednesday 8 Oct 2008 12.37pm To: Jane Gilles Subject: Re: Overdue account Dear Jane, I do not have any money so am sending you this drawing I did of a spider instead. I value the drawing at $233.95 so trust that this settles the matter. Regards, David.

From: Jane Gilles Date: Thursday 9 Oct 2008 10.07am To: David Thorne Subject: Overdue account Dear David, Thankyou for contacting us. Unfortunately we are unable to accept drawings as payment and your account remains in arrears of $233.95. Please contact us within the next 7 days to confirm payment has been applied to your account and is no longer outstanding. Yours sincerely, Jane Gilles From: David Thorne Date: Thursday 9 Oct 2008 10.32am To: Jane Gilles Subject: Re: Overdue account Dear Jane, Can I have my drawing of a spider back then please. Regards, David.

From: Jane Gilles Date: Thursday 9 Oct 2008 11.42am To: David Thorne Subject: Re: Re: Overdue account Dear David, You emailed the drawing to me. Do you want me to email it back to you? Yours sincerely, Jane Gilles From: David Thorne Date: Thursday 9 Oct 2008 11.56am To: Jane Gilles Subject: Re: Re: Re: Overdue account Dear Jane, Yes please. Regards, David.

From: Jane Gilles Date: Thursday 9 Oct 2008 12.14pm To: David Thorne Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Overdue account Attached <spider.gif> From: David Thorne Date: Friday 10 Oct 2008 09.22am To: Jane Gilles Subject: Whose spider is that? Dear Jane, Are you sure this drawing of a spider is the one I sent you? This spider only has seven legs and I do not feel I would have made such an elementary mistake when I drew it. Regards, David.

From: Jane Gilles Date: Friday 10 Oct 2008 11.03am To: David Thorne Subject: Re: Whose spider is that? Dear David, Yes it is the same drawing. I copied and pasted it from the email you sent me on the 8th. David your account is still overdue by the amount of $233.95. Please make this payment as soon as possible. Yours sincerely, Jane Gilles From: David Thorne Date: Friday 10 Oct 2008 11.05am To: Jane Gilles Subject: Automated Out of Office Response Thankyou for contacting me. I am currently away on leave, traveling through time and will be returning last week. Regards, David. From: David Thorne Date: Friday 10 Oct 2008 11.08am To: Jane Gilles Subject: Re: Re: Whose spider is that? Hello, I am back and have read through your emails and accept that despite missing a leg, that drawing of a spider may indeed be the one I sent you. I realise with hindsight that it is possible you rejected the drawing of a spider due to this obvious limb ommission but did not point it out in an effort to avoid hurting my feelings. As such, I am sending you a revised drawing with the correct number of legs as full payment for any amount outstanding. I trust this will bring the matter to a conclusion. Regards, David.

From: Jane Gilles Date: Monday 13 Oct 2008 2.51pm To: David Thorne Subject: Re: Re: Re: Whose spider is that? Dear David, As I have stated, we do not accept drawings in lei of money for accounts outstanding. We accept cheque, bank cheque, money order or cash. Please make a payment this week to avoid incurring any additional fees. Yours sincerely, Jane Gilles From: David Thorne Date: Monday 13 Oct 2008 3.17pm To: Jane Gilles Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Whose spider is that? I understand and will definately make a payment this week if I remember. As you have not accepted my second drawing as payment, please return the drawing to me as soon as possible. It was silly of me to assume I could provide you with something of completely no value whatsoever, waste your time and then attach such a large amount to it. Regards, David.

Jane Gilles Date: Tuesday 14 Oct 2008 11.18am To: David Thorne Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Whose spider is that? Attached <spider2.gif>

For those of you concerned about the future of such a talented individual, never fear: David has set up a spider drawing t-shirt shop so that benevolent patrons of the arts can help him regain his $233.95 by purchasing his wares.

So this holiday season, please remember to support local artists.  As well as the not-so-local ones living in Australia with overdue chiropractic bills.

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It never ceases to amaze me how many wonderful Shopkeepers we have in the CafePress Community. What I’m about to share really shows the meaning of Christmas, and will help people long after the holidays are over.

We have a group of Shopkeepers that wanted to give back this holiday by pooling small amounts of funds to support entrepreneurs through Kiva, a grassroots organization that provides micro-loans to people in developing countries trying to create businesses for sustenance. Meet Team Tee-ster who has so far donated over $400. While that barely buys an Espresso Machine for a Silicon Valley start-up, that amount makes a big impact for the people that KIVA supports. And these are business loans, not grants or hand-outs. Kiva has a default rate that is lower than our new gas prices–money lent today is ‘recycled’ many times over.

Team Tee-ster wants to make a big difference and would like to extend a challenge to other Shopkeepers in the Community.

“We, the members of ‘Team Tee-sters,’ are issuing a challenge to the CafePress Community. Will you join together to share the many blessings we receive? Sign up at Kiva, create a team (or several), pick another small business owner who shares our dream, and see if you can outraise us! (It is possible to donate less than the minimum required on the site if first collected offsite. IMHO no amount is too small.)”

Here is some information from the Kiva site:

The people you see on Kiva’s site are real individuals in need of funding in specific amounts for specific enterprises. When you browse entrepreneurs’ profiles on the site, choose someone to lend to, and then make a loan, you are helping a real person make great strides toward economic independence and improving life for themselves, their family, and their community. Throughout the course of the loan (usually 6-12 months), you can receive email journal updates and track repayments. Then, when you get your loan money back, you can relend to someone else in need

How it works:

1) Lenders like you browse profiles of entrepreneurs in need, and choose someone to lend to. When they lend, using PayPal or their credit cards, Kiva collects the funds and then passes them along to one of our microfinance partners worldwide.

2) Kiva’s microfinance partners distribute the loan funds to the selected entrepreneur. Often, our partners also provide training and other assistance to maximize the entrepreneur’s chances of success.

3) Over time, the entrepreneur repays their loan. Repayment and other updates are posted on Kiva and emailed to lenders who wish to receive them.

4) When lenders get their money back, they can re-lend to someone else in need, donate their funds to Kiva (to cover operational expenses), or withdraw their funds.

Here’s a team that has already accepted the challenge – Team Butterscotch Brigade – raising $350 in just 2 days! Way to go!

If you’re interested in this project, you can join a team or create your own team. Here are the teams we know of thus far:

Posted by CommunityQueen | Permalink | Comments (4)

President Bush showed off his reflexes during a press conference wherein an Iraqi journalist showed his displeasure for Bush by hurling two shoes (presumably his own) at the President.

The first shoe had an accurate trajectory and the President narrowly avoided being hit. The second shoe was thrown slightly outside the strike zone, at which point the pitcher was out of shoes and the President was therefore able to escape the ordeal unharmed and unsullied.

Video of the incident is here:

President Dodges Shoes from Johnny Roberts on Vimeo.

The journalist in question, Muntadar al-Zaidi, called the President a “dog” before dramatically ridding himself of his footwear.  Though his exact reasons for the attack are unknown, it’s speculated that al-Zaidi is upset due to having been kidnapped and beaten by a militia.

While some may find the choice of shoes to be a curious weapon, in Arab culture projectile shoes are considered a serious insult.  It would seem that the attack was in fact a symbolic gesture rather than one intended to inflict actual damage – Iraqis also threw shoes at Saddam Hussein’s statue after his overthrow.

Iraqi officials called the incident “shameful” and detained al-Zaidi for questioning.  This prompted thousands of Iraqi citizens to assemble in Baghdad to demand the release of the shoeless journalist they call a “hero.”  The fate of al-Zaidi is as of yet unknown; however, Iraqi officials have noted that he is being interrogated to determine whether someone paid him to throw his shoes.  (Note to footwear companies: product placement of this nature is probably A Bad Idea.)

The President himself laughed off the incident, noting that the scintillating facts of the matter are that the shoes in question are a size 10.  No word on whether the President will adopt the Japanese shoe tradition for future press conferences overseas.

Not surprisingly, it wasn’t long before we saw some motivated designers commemorating the incident via Shoes Conference merchandise.

And so we hand out 2 Fantasy T-Wearers today: President Bush gets the “Don’t Shoe Me, Bro!” t-shirt (or sweatshirt, as he wishes), and Muntadar al-Zaidi gets the commemorative “I threw my shoe at George W. Bush” t-shirt, at right.

Posted by buzzcowboy | Permalink | Comments (2)