This is a plea on whatever pitiful and personal level it may be to the Auto Industry, to auto owners, energy consumers ... to America.

You are, if you are willing, about to be led by a ring in your nose like a helpless pig to slaughter to an entirely new narrative about the oil and gasoline you consume.  But I believe that this time, you can do the right thing and stick to the decision you have already made to free yourself from the bonds of oil for good.

Yesterday you made something happen...again!

I came here yesterday and posted yet another diary about my participation in a walk to aid a local women's shelter. My previous diaries barely made a ripple. But I knew that it wasn't becAUse you didn't care, only that my sense of timing was off, and that it was a pretty darned busy week on the campaign trail. But time was growing short, we only had about $360 in donations and so I decided to take another shot at it. So I posted, hoping that we might get just a few more donations so we could reach our goal of $1,000.

Well, guess what YOU did?

We lost another woman to domestic violence last night.

ABINGTON - It was shortly after 10 p.m. in this small suburban town when Frank Scolaro heard multiple gunshots outside his home on a short side street.
He grabbed his pistol and went outside to find his sister and neighbor, Barbara Jean Tassinari, lying in the driveway, shot multiple times in the head and body. He saw his brother-in-law, John Tassinari, standing nearby.

I've posted three diaries this week about my participation in the annual Walk for HAWC this Sunday. Three diaries, 22 comments and 4 donations. Four. Out of a community of over 150,000.

Mad? No. Disappointed? Well, a little. Because this issue is simply too important to ignore. But I'm not going to stop posting. Because even though I've only gotten four donations, it's four more than I had last week. And, who knows, maybe I'll get a few more.

More...

Eddie told me that when I go to the store I only had ten minutes to do the shopping and get home. When I would go visit my mom and dad I could only stay for ten minutes. I couldn't go have coffee with them in the mornings like I always had done. When I was gone longer than ten minutes Eddie would start pushing me around and he would grab my upper arm and drag me to the bedroom, that's where he always would start beating on me. Eddie would bruise my arm every time he grabbed me like that.

Well, here I am again. Begging once more. I've posted two diaries in the last week asking for your help and they made barely a ripple (the first one here). But it's been a busy week, with the PA primary and all, so I can understand why those diaries faded so quickly.
But PA is over, so I hope you'll all indulge me and respond to my plea.
I am asking for a little money. Very little actually. A friend and I are walking on Sunday in the annual "Walk for HAWC" to benefit a North Shore (of MA) shelter for abused women and their children. Our walk team's goal is modest, only $1000, but we're four days away and only up to 360.01. I know we can do better...

That's right. I want money. YOUR money. But, to be honest, I can't guarantee that no one will get hurt. And that's exactly why I'm asking you all for a bit of scratch.

My best friend in the whole world (we've known each other since we were five) and I are participating in the annual Walk for HAWC in Salem, MA next Sunday, April 27. HAWC stands for Help Abused Women and their Children.

This is an organization that gives aid and comfort to abused women and their children, through their shelter, programs and other areas of support. Their job is not easy, even in a supposedly affluent area that is the North shore of Massachusetts.
And, becuase funding is drying up, the need is especially great. Follow me...

Greetings fellow Kossacks.
This is not a political diary, not will it help elect any Democrats. But it will help some people who really need it, namely abused women and their children living on the North Shore of Massachusetts.
A friend and I are participating in the annual"Walk for HAWC" that takes place on April 27th in Salem, Mass. HAWC stands for Help Abused Women and their Children

YES, I'm asking for money!

HAWC's Mission:
The purpose of HAWC is to create social change by taking action against personal and societal patterns of violence and oppression against women and their children. HAWC provides services and support to victims of domestic violence residing in 23 cities and towns on Massachusetts' North Shore in order that they may make informed, independent decisions about their futures, and access alternatives to living in a violent situation.

There's more...

By now you all have heard about the woman that was given the punishment of 200 lashes and jail time for being to be gangraped by 7 men. The lack of outrage by our government has puzzled many people. Why isn't Pres. Bush taking a moral stand against this abuse of Power is a question many people have been asking. I think part of the answer can be found in a speech given by the out going Homeland Security Advisor Fran Townsend. Just last month she gave a speech before the King of Saud praising his uplifting of women. As we can now see it was pandering at it's base level.

What isn't well known is that the Kings benevolent behavior was a political move to get into the WTO. After Bush supported this admittance he can hardly turn around and admit he was wrong. That is beyond our beloved leaders ability. In his entire term I don't believe Bush has ever admitted to a mistake he would name. A link and part of the text of that speech after the fold.

Yesterday I put out a diary because a man in spotslyvania Virginia shot his 13 year old daughter in the head.  

the story:
.BY ELLEN BILTZThirteen-year-old Kayla Reynolds was arguing about bad checks with her father early yesterday when the subject turned to drugs. Moments later, the Spotsylvania County teenager was dead on the front porch from a gunshot wound to the head, her pregnant half-sister was bleeding from a bullet to her face, and her uncle was calling police while her father drank a couple of beers....."Hague said he saw Reynolds take out his pistol and shoot both girls in the head.

Here is why I think this is a Woman's rights issue.

MURDER. Every day four women die in this country as a result of domestic violence, the euphemism for murders and assaults by husbands and boyfriends. That's approximately 1,400 women a year, according to the FBI. The number of women who have been murdered by their intimate partners is greater than the number of soldiers killed in the Vietnam War.

Every DAY, my god this statistic has not changed since the 1970's, Why?  

About a month ago, I started a new job.  A new, low paying job (I make .15 above minimum wage.  I bring this up to say, there is no opportunity where I live.  It is a rural area stricken with poverty and under-education).  At the new job, I met a friend.  Let's call her "Tina."

Tina is the mother of six.  She had her first kid at 15 and is married to a man who is 11 years her senior.  Tina is 33 and trapped in her bad marriage.  When i first started working, I mainly knew Tina as the woman who's husband wouldn't let her work (out of jealousy, for having a life outside of home, but also because he suspected her intentions with our teenage male coworkers.  As if!)  So she'd show up late for work, looking a mess.  Then she'd leave me in the middle shift, after being on the phone with her jealous husband for an hour.  When she first left and didn't come back, I thought I might never hear from her again ..

Well I did.  And I need your advice.

Domestic violence by intimates has decreased greatly over the last 30 years. One of the most surprising things I learned after reading a number of articles on the subject was the statistic shown in this graph:

As women have gained more freedom, men have seen a decline in the number of homicides by intimates. There are varying opinions on why that might be, and the topic of domestic violence by intimates in general and the reasons for its decline is the topic for this weeks Feminisms series.

So many sad stories, and they are always the same. A girl meets some guy. He's exciting, seems like a rebel, different, you know? Older, wiser members of her family distrust him and advise against the relationship. This only makes her love him more fiercely. Sure, there are warning signs, but there are lots of pie in the sky promises too, and the belief, clung to ever so tenaciously, that he really, really loves her and wants the best for her. The blessed day comes, and they are married. The political parallel was America's voters trusting and putting the Republicanist Party into power (I won't say "Republican", not until they start calling my party "Democratic" instead of the childishly insulting "Democrat Party").

What possible force can push you right to the podium of a perfect stranger’s funeral? Cosmic forces are strange things, for I’ll never be able to explain why I chose to attend the funeral of this one individual in particular. Yes, she was a part of the community, and yes, as a transgender person of color, she meant a lot to me, even if she was a perfect stranger. I miss her so much, I feel like I knew her for years, and that I have lost a wonderful friend, but the truth is, I didn’t even know she existed or what she really looked like until the funeral. I wonder what past life we shared together that made me decide that this funeral was my destiny.

In this extraordinary time, forget the jewelry, the lingerie, the mall altogether. Women all over the world understand the daily erododing of women’s rights around the globe.

Whether it be back to the stone age in Iraq or sex slave trafficking in Eastern Europe or GENOCIDE and rape in Durfur, women know other women are under siege. IF YOU WANT TO SHOW HER YOU REALLY CARE, THIS HOLIDAY SEASON DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. More below the foldwhHO

So, Ohio's 2nd district court of appeals recently ruled that the state's domestic violence law which protects "a person living as a spouse" from domestic abuse is now unconstitutional.  Of course this is because the Ohio state Defense of Marriage Amendment states that the state cannot

"create or recognize a legal status for relationships of unmarried individuals that intends to approximate the ... effect of marriage."

So how is this eroding that "traditional marriage" we've been hearing so much about, as my title suggests?  More after the jump...