Right now, as I'm typing this, my hands are trembling with anger and sorrow.  A while ago I read a story on the news about young Danieal (pronounced "Danielle") Kelly, a 14 year-old disabled girl, who died from neglect.  For a couple of hours, that story kept staying in my mind.  What with Iraq, the elections, everything, yet this one story stood in my mind.  One word, one single word kept coming back...murder

Thinking about the anniversary today, and slowly emerging from the primaries....

My first maternal grandmother in this country raised 7 children (had 2 more died in childbirth) alone & penniless, because her husband was burned in a cabin by "hostiles" near the St Charles River. My grandmother died in childbirth at 19 after eloping. My mother almost died in a self-administered abortion at 19. My sister lived her entire life knowing she can never have children because of complications of birth (8 years after my mom's near-fatal abortion).  

40 Years after the MLK Assassination - 40 years after James Brown  'saves Boston." No James Brown Museum!
No James Brown Museum? The Auctioning off of James Brown Life historic artifacts is an American Disgrace. Yes, It's an American disgrace. With so many black millionaires, let see if one of the thousands of black American multi millionaires steps up and saves these items from being sold. This is a family issue, but its a political issue too.

http://tinyurl.com/2uajv3
http://aapoliticalpundit.blogspot.com/20 08/04/no-james-brown-musuem-no-way-there -will.html

It has been quite some time since I posted a diary here.  This is not about politics - it is personal.  I hope there's room for something a bit different.  

Well, that's not exactly true.  It's more the concept of a mother that I miss - not that I really have a handle on what that is, exactly; never having had a functioning model to pull from.  Yesterday I watched a program featuring teasing exchanges between adult siblings.  I realized I had no idea how that felt - to speak to a family member without rancor; no underlying hatreds or agenda - no hysteria, violence or tears.  It was strange.  Of all the relatable human experiences - family life should be a constant.  That's why silent movies were so universal.  The language of pattern and form: smiles, tears, warmth, laughter.  A woman appears; next to her stands a child.  The image resonates, we all know what that is, what it signifies - only I don't.  There is no warm rush of emotion, no opening of the heart.  I am lost - at sea: alien.

As everyone knows, today is Super Bowl Sunday.  Hundreds of millions of people across the world will turn on their TV sets to watch the New England Patriots take on the New York Giants.

Perhaps less known, Super Bowl Sunday is also the day that typically sees a peak in incidents of domestic violence. (Update: many folks in the comments are pointing out this is a myth. While there is some evidence that Super Bowl Sunday is correlated with increased domestic violence, the rise is relatively minor compared to other holidays like Christmas and Memorial Day. Thanks for the correction, and apologies for the mistake, folks.)  Indeed, the time period stretching roughly from Thanksgiving to Super Bowl Sunday is acknowledged by police, domestic violence shelter administrators, doctors, and other first responders as a time when domestic violence skyrockets.

Before reading on, please make sure to stay safe, and look out for your friends and loved ones.  If you or someone you know might have a violent situation at home today, the phone number for the National Domestic Violence Hotline is 1-800-799-SAFE (7233).

Today, I want to discuss what the progressive movement can do to address the issue of domestic violence.  This is a terriffying problem which makes life hellish for millions of people a year, and as a movement which values equality and respect for all people, we should not turn a blind eye towards it.

There are many types of insurance, there are for our health, our lives, our home, and our cars. But how about for our money and identity? We must insure our properties and we must begin with our identity. Nobody is really sure how many people are victimized by identity theft each year. According to the FTC, more than 160,000 cases of identity fraud were reported in 2002. Get GOOD or BUDGET Lifelock promo code to insure your identity before frauds have it and took your money. Secure your identity, then you surely secured your property with Lifelock.

Rather than starting off with the tired meme of Change vs. Experience as though change can be had without experience making change, why don't we look at Hillary Clinton's experience. The Republicans running seem to be of the opinion that she hasn't any experience, supposedly having never run anything in her life. But then why was the GOP aghast at her in 1992 when she became the first First Lady with a post-graduate degree and a career of her own? Actually, they had known of her from before as a lawyer who had fought against Ronald Reagan's so-called reforms. Hillary Rodham, as the head of the Legal Services Corporation (being appointed by President Carter), led the fight against Ronald Reagan's conservative judicial appointments refusing to meet with them and pressuring Democratic lawmakers to block their confirmation. She had also caused a stir when she filed a successful restraining order against the Reagan Administration for its attempts to squash the LSC from the federal budget.

There are many things the GOP has either trumpeted, co-opted, been inadvertently given, or outright stolen during the past 15 years: terms of language, ideologies and philosophies, even tangible things. These things are either now found to be somewhat (and that's being nice) lacking in the GOP; some are even blatantly contradictory. As a Democrat, and actually as an AMERICAN, I say, LET'S TAKE THEM BACK!

I'll start with the somewhat obvious things and go from there; feel free to add to the list.

The Constitution, in all its glory: Let's TAKE IT BACK!