Wanna see what one of my clients ordered?

This is is a custom order for a client through one my my jewelers, but it was so pretty, I thought I'd share.  She asked for something "red, white, and black" with a particular set of letters (don't see a reason to share that!) The sparkly silver is a new new "kind" of silver, Argentium, which has an alloy called Germanium in it which makes it virtually tarnish resistant.  It's much more expensive than .925 sterling silver, but for this finish, it's worth every penny, since traditional silver is essentially un-polishable in the laser-cut "sugar-coat" finish.  It never, ever, looks right once it tarnishes, so these are a real find!  They actually look a lot like white gold, because the color of Argentium silver is "whiter" than traditional silver. If you look closely, there'a a vibrant rainbow beaming off of them!  I'm sure the client will appreciate it once she gets it out into the sunshine.

20th Century Progressives' View of America

American Progressivism by Pestritto & Atto
Originally uploaded by morse code jewelry®

I mentioned in a previous post that I'm reading American Progressivism in an effort to understand what Hillary Clinton proclaimed that she, and so many others are: "early twentieth century progressive."


After the introduction by the authors, and campaign speeches by T. Roosevelt & Woodrow Wilson, which brought me about 50+ pages in, my initial impressions are this:


Capitalism and capitalists are bad.
Class warfare as a campaign tactic is nothing new.
Understanding the power of the media and how politicians can subsume and subvert it for propaganda is also nothing new.


I don't think I have ever read a book that had me scratching so many notes in the margins.  I'll post some excerpts later, but for now, there's ain't a lot of "morning in America" in the vision of these characters.  Oh, they talk around it and give it some lip service, but the philosophies underpinning their policies are dark, and anti-individual rights.

Billboard in WI: "Impeach Obama"

God Bless America and the 1st Amendment, while we have it!

See the story, here.