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...

Checked the Randi Rhodes board this am to find this diary posted:
Randi Rhodes Canceled?

Listening at 8:35 PST on KKGN in SF, announcer John Scott just broke into the Rachael Maddow show to say that Air America has ended Randi Rhodes' contract with the network.
Anybody?

Further checking, via the LTR blog gives us a post from yesterday...

Less than a week since Air America Radio suspended Randi Rhodes, what is not resolved is when, if ever, Rhodes will return. Or with who, as rumors are flying that Rhodes is no longer with the network, and that one of her affiliates will continue airing her show regardless.
The network will issue some sort of statement regarding the situation Thursday (April 10), according to Radio & Record

WTF?

I know, I know, John Edwards has dropped from the race. My two choices on "Super Duper Tuesday" are Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

But when I enter the voting booth on Feb. 5, I am going to be filling in the circle for John Edwards. Why?

Why not?

OK, People. It's time to put down the pitchforks and pens, step away from the PCS, take a deep breath and look at what the hell is really going on here.

You gotta ask yourself why this is playing out the way it is? Do we really feel so about the candidates on the left? I mean we are blessed, yes blessed, by a surfeit of really, really good candidates. I'd take any of them, Kucinich and Gravel included, over any, repeat ANY, candidate the right has to offer.

The last few months the bickering and fighting over whose candidate is better - not just the better candidate, but the better person has reached fever pitch. The last few weeks in particular things have been particularly rough, reducing dialog to a bunch of he said/she said, cat fights, racist diatribe and an ignorance of the issues that are really important to our future - our collective future. Hillary's racist! Obama's a sexist! Edwards is nothing but a pretty boy with no chance, and Kucinich is nuts (UFO? WTF?)

And whose fault is it really? I'll tell you who...THE MEDIA. Yes, that's right, the media. And we supporters of Dem candidates have fallen for it - hook...line...and sinker.

IT'S TIME TO STOP PLAYING THEIR GAME.

I don't have to tell you things are bad. Everybody knows things are bad. It's a depression. Everybody's out of work or scared of losing their job. The dollar buys a nickel's work, banks are going bust, shopkeepers keep a gun under the counter. Punks are running wild in the street and there's nobody anywhere who seems to know what to do, and there's no end to it. We know the air is unfit to breathe and our food is unfit to eat, and we sit watching our TV's while some local newscaster tells us that today we had fifteen homicides and sixty-three violent crimes, as if that's the way it's supposed to be.

Sound familiar? Sound like life as we know it? Well, it's not. It's from the brilliant 1976 movie Network, written by Paddy Chayefsky and directed by Sidney Lumet.
But the more I look at our country, our world, today, the more I realize that this movie was not only right, but that nothing has changed since 1976, it's only gotten worse. And I don't know about you but I've seen enough to know I've had enough. I'm not in the mood to play nice...I AM AS MAD AS HELL AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!!!
And I want you to get mad too!

Agence France Presse - France is tops, and the United States dead last, in providing timely and effective healthcare to its citizens, according to a survey Tuesday of preventable deaths in 19 industrialized countries.

The study by the Commonwealth Fundand published in the January/February issue of the journal Health Affairs measured developed countries' effectiveness at providing timely and effective healthcare.
I know it, you know it, Michael Moore knows it. The Sarkysian family most definitely knows it. Our health care system is an absolute, total mess. This new report confirms it, but will anyone listen? Is anyone listening?

I know this isn't much of a diary. But the good folks here at the DailyKos have been a touchstone for several years, so I just had to let this out.
My best friend's husband died today. He was only 54, far too young to shuffle off his "mortal coil."
Jay Baxter Worsencroft. A sweetheart, a wonderful guy.

Jay was a guy you could count on. A bear of a guy, with a big heart, but one too fragile to take him through as full a life as one might wish for him.

Yesterday in the Boston Globe, there was a good OpEd piece by Joseph P. Kennedy II and Dr. Deborah Frank pointing out the connection between malnutrition and the struggle of poor families to keep their homes warm in winter.

THE ALL-TOO-THIN baby on the pediatric exam table does not know that oil prices recently topped $80 a barrel. With almost no fat on his malnourished body, he is unable to tolerate for even a brief period being undressed by his doctor. His mother wonders how she will keep the house warm, food cooked, and lights on through the coming winter for the boy and his sister, while making sure that they have enough to eat.

I believe
If I look hard enough
I will see
That there can be enough
And I believe
I can think clear enough,
To conceive
A place where there's enough

If not now, when?
If not today, then
What about tomorrow?
What happens tomorrow?

Dear Mr. Gore, I think you know this song. And you know the woman who wrote it.  And I think you know why. You know the despair, as well as hope contained within this song. We all know what has to happen to make a better world, and we have the hope. But time is getting short. We have seen two elections stolen and an illegal immoral war that has drained both our treasury, as well as the futures of almost 4,000 Americans who have died as a result. What might they have done with their futures? And how many more will die before it is all over?

Dear Al, What about tomorrow?

Yes, me heartys, it's once again INTERNATIONAL TALK LIKE A PIRATE DAY!

And as I do every year (well, this is the second) I'm postin' this diary as it's me own personal mission to change the misconception of the good folks here and elsewhere who keep referrin' to the Republicans as Pirates! Arrrr! Don't insult Pirates with such bilge! Pirates were more like Robin Hood's of the high seas than the lily-livered scallywags that abide in the White House and despoil our land with their stealin' of our booty! These scurvy dogs couldn't hold their own agin' us, and if it were up to us, that son of a biscuit eater they call the president would be first to walk the plank!
Follow me, me heartys and learn!

OK, all paranoia aside, when we've seen what we've seen over the last several years, does anyone doubt that Bush & Co. would declare Martial Law if they "deemed it necessary?" We've seen the elimination of Habeus Corpus, Posse Comititus, etc. Now this, as reported by the Shreveport, LA CBS affiliate:

SHREVEPORT, LA
Homeland Security Enlists Clergy to Quell Public Unrest if Martial Law Ever Declared
Aug 23, 2007 10:38 PM
Could martial law ever become a reality in America? Some fear any nuclear, biological or chemical attack on U.S. soil might trigger just that. KSLA News 12 has discovered that the clergy would help the government with potentially their biggest problem: Us.

Oh-boy-oh-boy-oh-boy-oh-boy!!!!
YES!
I was just perusing MSNBC's site looking for something and thought, heck, I'll stop in to Coutndown and see if Keith will be in the chair this week, or if he was slated to be off again. And to my absolute delight I saw this...

Tonight on Countdown at 8pm ET, Keith will deliver a special comment regarding the president's surprise trip to Iraq over the holiday weekend.  We'll have an excerpt in a little while.

Stay tuned KO fans! It's time for another knockout!
EXCERPT AFTER THE JUMP...

I had the good fortune to hang out with some of my closest friends up in Gloucester last night. It’s the time for the annual Schooner Races, the annual boat parade (where local boats of all sizes wrap their vessels in lights and parade around the harbor), as well as the season-ending fireworks display over the harbor.
We have a really good spot we go to every year where we have full view of the parade and fireworks. We also set up a feast, a pot-luck of everythign from soup to nuts. We do it up with candles and linens and chilled wine and beer.  This year’s selection was a veritable UN of party food – everything from Greek Tsatziki to Chinese pot stickers. Not to mention the variety of cheese, fruits, desserts (both home-made and store-bought). But the idea is to celebrate the holiday with good friends, a little wine or beer, and lots of food. Then we all hunker down in our folding chairs to watch the exploding display of lights above our heads.
But this year for me, at least, it wasn’t as much fun. Why? I’ll tell you...

In Today's Boston Gloobe, there was a touching obituary of a man named Melvin Rosen, a survivor of the Bataan Death March during WWII. His was a fascinating life, a life of service to the country he loved and almost gave his life.

Melvin Herbert Rosen trudged 65 miles in four days without food or water in tropical heat during World War II on a road that came to be littered with the bodies of hundreds of American and thousands of Filipino prisoners of war. A young Army captain, he survived what came to be called the Bataan Death March.
Colonel Rosen died Aug. 1 of heart disease at his home in Falls Church, Va. He was 89.

Read his obit in full at the Globe (link above). But the part of it that made me think was a quote by Melvin about his experience back then, one I think Americans should read, and think about. Follow me...