trudesign

Emmy Emmy Emmy

Since everyone has opened their presents, now I can post this calendar I designed for brother's wife Missy. Seriously how cute is she?

This photo below was taken by Vorrel

How come...

I'm always a little depressed after Christmas is over? The site of a Christmas tree or lights is so sad right now... BUT I did have a great time in Michigan. Here are some photos of the time there.

My sisters friend Jen, got a little puppy -- sorry most of the pics are dogs, but I couldn't resist!

Here is my dad helping us make the Christmas morning casserole - he was cracking me up!

The Christmas table all set up and ready to go for the morning!

And here is my sister and her husband Huns - Huns wins the all time best wrapping job with electrical tape and 2 Styrofoam cups to wrap a scarf! As you can see she is about to pop! She was having contractions all weekend -- her little baby girl Sophia should be here any day now!

I got a lot of great stuff for Christmas, like a super nice Dremel from my mom and dad, that i'm so exicted to use. A really cool bottle and some wine glasses and wine. Oh and my sister got me the "I'm not a nugget" t-shirt! BUT the funniest gift of all was this, a pillow my sister found that looks an awful like my kitty THE Elmo -- she even pinned his ear down like Elmo's to make it look even more life like. haha

It was warmer in the 40's all weekend, but we did get a treat on Christmas morning, with a very light dusting of snow!

By the way, didn't realize my post earlier would spawn so much heat, I LOVE IT. I love politics --- never thought I would, but because of Bush and the "great job" he's doing, haha, it's really made me care.

Seriously...

I know i've already posted a little about this spying bush has been doing, but isn't anyone else pissed about it? I cannot believe that he is pretty much saying that he can arrest, spy, pretty much do whatever the hell he wants until "terrorism" is over. Give me a fucking break, will it ever be over? I'm pissed because he is saying that because we went to Iraq and because of 9-11, he can just bypass part of the constitution and invade anyone's privacy he wants? I actually HATE him -- it's a wonder that anyone actually voted this moron in. Wow, go America....

He's a piece of shit...

Thanks Ray for the link...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 15 - Months after the Sept. 11 attacks, President Bush secretly authorized the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on Americans and others inside the United States to search for evidence of terrorist activity without the court-approved warrants ordinarily required for domestic spying, according to government officials.

In 2002, President Bush toured the National Security Agency at Fort Meade, Md., with Lt. Gen. Michael V. Hayden, who was then the agency's director and is now a full general and the principal deputy director of national intelligence.

Under a presidential order signed in 2002, the intelligence agency has monitored the international telephone calls and international e-mail messages of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people inside the United States without warrants over the past three years in an effort to track possible "dirty numbers" linked to Al Qaeda, the officials said. The agency, they said, still seeks warrants to monitor entirely domestic communications.

The previously undisclosed decision to permit some eavesdropping inside the country without court approval was a major shift in American intelligence-gathering practices, particularly for the National Security Agency, whose mission is to spy on communications abroad. As a result, some officials familiar with the continuing operation have questioned whether the surveillance has stretched, if not crossed, constitutional limits on legal searches.

"This is really a sea change," said a former senior official who specializes in national security law. "It's almost a mainstay of this country that the N.S.A. only does foreign searches."

Nearly a dozen current and former officials, who were granted anonymity because of the classified nature of the program, discussed it with reporters for The New York Times because of their concerns about the operation's legality and oversight.

According to those officials and others, reservations about aspects of the program have also been expressed by Senator John D. Rockefeller IV, the West Virginia Democrat who is the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and a judge presiding over a secret court that oversees intelligence matters. Some of the questions about the agency's new powers led the administration to temporarily suspend the operation last year and impose more restrictions, the officials said.

The Bush administration views the operation as necessary so that the agency can move quickly to monitor communications that may disclose threats to the United States, the officials said. Defenders of the program say it has been a critical tool in helping disrupt terrorist plots and prevent attacks inside the United States.

Administration officials are confident that existing safeguards are sufficient to protect the privacy and civil liberties of Americans, the officials say. In some cases, they said, the Justice Department eventually seeks warrants if it wants to expand the eavesdropping to include communications confined within the United States. The officials said the administration had briefed Congressional leaders about the program and notified the judge in charge of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, the secret Washington court that deals with national security issues.

The White House asked The New York Times not to publish this article, arguing that it could jeopardize continuing investigations and alert would-be terrorists that they might be under scrutiny. After meeting with senior administration officials to hear their concerns, the newspaper delayed publication for a year to conduct additional reporting. Some information that administration officials argued could be useful to terrorists has been omitted.

Dealing With a New Threat

While many details about the program remain secret, officials familiar with it say the N.S.A. eavesdrops without warrants on up to 500 people in the United States at any given time. The list changes as some names are added and others dropped, so the number monitored in this country may have reached into the thousands since the program began, several officials said. Overseas, about 5,000 to 7,000 people suspected of terrorist ties are monitored at one time, according to those officials.

Several officials said the eavesdropping program had helped uncover a plot by Iyman Faris, an Ohio trucker and naturalized citizen who pleaded guilty in 2003 to supporting Al Qaeda by planning to bring down the Brooklyn Bridge with blowtorches. What appeared to be another Qaeda plot, involving fertilizer bomb attacks on British pubs and train stations, was exposed last year in part through the program, the officials said. But they said most people targeted for N.S.A. monitoring have never been charged with a crime, including an Iranian-American doctor in the South who came under suspicion because of what one official described as dubious ties to Osama bin Laden.

Read more here...
Bush Lets U.S. Spy on Callers Without Courts

Christmas ISH...

I've been pretty stressed out at my day job lately, and had a lot of freelance at night going on too - sorry it's been a while since I posted. This past weekend and all this week i've been working on gifts for friends and family.. here are some of the things I've made...

Some earrings & a necklace...

A ball made of large Christmas lights that I need to finish.. I underestimated the amount of bulbs needed, so I'm waiting for my eBay shipment!

A wreath --

And some ornaments - inspiration from Teresa, who does beautiful work!

How come every year at the last minute I remember like 10 people that I want to give or make something for? Why do I do this to myself - will I ever learn to actually plan this stuff out?

I'm a bad blogger...

Sorry it's been a while since I posted a good post -- I did a lot of crafty things this weekend - but have been so frickin' busy that I haven't been able take pics yet.. Work is insane once again -- such a rollercoaster ride at this place. I'm exhausted and too lazy to take a self portrait today! Blah....

I dig it...

Crate & Barrel Party...

My boss took me to the crate and barrel party that some radio stations we advertise with put on.. it was pretty cool. They let you choose from 20 different gifts. I picked these - which came with 4 mugs and 4 shot glasses that attach to the edge of the mug! :)

Also my Wakey Wakey shirt only got a 2.16 rating -- oh well I'll try again - thanks everyone who voted!

One Day Left...

Pretty please with a cherry on top, vote!

I can't believe that...

it's December 1st already! Wow. I woke up to see some snow on the ground here in Chicago -- it was actually very pretty.

I did some decorating this week for Christmas. Check it.