Today is a big push to try and save Pretty Bird Woman House, a women's shelter on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation. I have brought up the Pretty Bird Woman House Woman's Shelter before when I discussed the horrific Amnesty International report on the high incidence of rapes of Native American women by outsiders who seldom get procecuted. This shelter's sad story has continued. It was vandalized and is not being sold off. This will leave many women on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation with no support system. On Daily Kos a fundraiser is ongoing to raise enough money to buy the property and set it up to be a safe and secure women's shelter again.

I am asking you to help out. I donated $100. Some are donating as much as $500. This is pure, old fashioned good works in keeping with the holiday season.

Teresa Heinz Kerry’s two marriages bring together two American political traditions, the Republican Heinz family and the Democratic Kerry family, and shows how good people in both parties have common ground. Much of her philanthropic effort has focused on two areas: the environment, and women’s health and economic security. Since 1996, Teresa Heinz Kerry brings these two issues together in an annual conference called the “Conference on Women’s Health & the Environment,” held at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh. In preparation for this year’s conference, Teresa is participating in a blogtour, a relatively new concept where she participates in a series of mini-interviews with bloggers around the country on the subject of women’s health and the environment.

Culture Kitchen has been chosen to be the first stop on the blogtour. At each stop Teresa will answer a different set of questions coming from different perspectives. Culture Kitchen is a national/international blog covering politics and culture and has been called "a sociologist's dream" by a Pacifica Radio host in Texas.

Please join us on this blogtour by visiting Culture Kitchen.

Teresa Heinz Kerry has a conference coming up Friday, April 20th, discussing women's health and the environment sponsorder by the Heinz Family Philanthropies. Leading up to this she is on a "blogtour" which I am happy to kick off on 4/14. Here is the schedule to date (changes possible):

4-14 Culture Kitchen http://culturekitchen.com/

4-15 Light Up The Darkness http://www.lightupthedarkness.org/blog

4-16 Democracy Cell Project http://www.democracycellproject.net/blog/

4-17 A Dem Fine Woman http://www.demfinewoman.com

4-18 The World Women Want/Big Green Purse
http://theworldwomenwant.com/blog.htm
http://www.biggreenpurse.com

4-19 John Kerry Is My Hero http://www.johnkerryismyhero.com

4-20 Democratic Daily http://blog.thedemocraticdaily.com/

4-21 Post Carbon http://postcarbon.org/blog/3475

4-22 The Unofficial Kerry Blog http://kerryblog.blogspot.com/

4-23 Culture Kitchen http://culturekitchen.com/

4-24 We Love John Kerry http://www.welovejohnkerry.com

4-25 Violet Voices http://www.meredithefken.com/blog

4-26 Cocking A Snook http://cockingasnook.wordpress.com/

The Washigton Post reported yesterday that Hillary Clinton is fighting tooth and nail to keep her husband's impeachment out of any discussions involving her presidential bid :

Clinton Fights to Keep Impeachment Taboo - washingtonpost.com:

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has a new commandment for the 2008 presidential field: Thou shalt not mention anything related to the impeachment of her husband.

With a swift response to attacks from a former supporter last week, advisers to the New York Democrat offered a glimpse of their strategy for handling one of the most awkward chapters of her biography. They declared her husband's impeachment in 1998 -- or, more accurately, the embarrassing personal behavior that led to it -- taboo, putting her rivals on notice and all but daring other Democrats to mention the ordeal again.

Funny because at the nail salon, the republican feminist lady that was getting a french manicure was saying that it did matter to her.

A lot.

Sexism and racism are getting talked about quite a bit on our companion site Culture Kitchen. And they are getting A LOT of readers. Though my favorite discussion of race on the site right now isn't getting much attention. But I do recommend Margaret's diary down memory lane.

To me, any discussion of race or gender has to start from the realization that America was FOUNDED with racism and sexism included in its foundation. Too often excuses are made that ignore this: things like "slavery wasn't so bad," or "the Civil War wasn't about slavery," or "that is all in the past, things are equal now."

As long as people ask questions like "are we ready for a woman president" or "are we ready for a [fill in your favorite ethnic, religious or racial minority] president" we still have a long way to go. I like to point out that if we are still asking if we are ready for a woman president this long after Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, etc. have ALREADY had women presidents/prime ministers, we should be embarrassed.

About 10 years ago I was living in a great place in the Hollywood Hills. We had a dinner guest one night who identified himself as a "libertarian." Now I have known some pretty smart and well meaning libertarians. But this guy was basically a fool who used libertarianism as a way of blaming society for his own shortcomings.

We've gone to town with the news of Mary Cheney's pregnancy. We are so full of cheer we went ahead and created a whole cornucopia of baby shower gifts for the happy mom, her out-of-law wife and their baby to be.

Have the baby wear his or her mommies love and
their dissent with this most political of onesies.
It's never too early to learn how to slap one on
republicans and gay marriage haters.

There's more stuff at our Mary Cheney Baby store, but it's just a start. Would you like to add to the fun? Then go to town with your photoshop!

What are the rules for playing?

A terrorist attack occurred on 9/11/2006 in Davenport, Iowa, on the 5th year anniversary of the terrorist attack on the city where I live. And I heard nothing about it. And Homeland Security seems to have ignored it. Why?

Simple: the attack was done by a right wing white guy targeting a woman's health clinic.

From the Quad Cities Times:

A Michigan man described as a bookworm by relatives has wandered the Midwest since August, looking for a medical clinic to attack with his 2004 Saturn compact car, authorities said.

It was dawn Monday when David Robert McMenemy approached Edgerton Women’s Health Center in Davenport, which he mistakenly believed provided abortions.

He entered the center’s driveway off East Rusholme Street and then took a few moments to turn and configure the car to face straight into the lobby, Davenport Fire Marshal Mike Hayman said.

The 45-year-old crashed the Saturn into the central lobby, coming to rest at the counter. When the car did not immediately burst into flames as he may have expected, police said he took gasoline that he had poured into a Gatorade bottle and spread it over the interior. “I lit it,” McMenemy told investigators, and he exited the structure to surrender himself to startled Davenport firefighters....

Recently I wrote about an organization called Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) which has rated Republicans markedly lower than Democrats on issues of concern to soldiers and veterans. IAVA was founded in June 2004 and claims to be the nation's first and largest group dedicated to the Troops and Veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the civilian supporters of those Troops and Veterans. The gist is that Republicans pretty much suck on defense while Democrats are mostly rated well by IAVA. Many of us have known this ever since Republicans in Congress criticized Clinton for going after bin Laden and since Republicans called Clinton "obsessed with al-Qaeda." That alone was enough for me to see that Republicans could not deal with threats to America while Clinton actually prevented the Millenium Attacks. Republicans claim that was pure luck (yeah...right), but it still is markedly better than anything Bush has been able to muster. Even some top ranking Generals, previously life-long Republicans, agree that Republicans are failing on Defense, not to mention the 21 Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans who are so pissed they are running for Congress as Democrats and are vocally opposed to Bush's policies.

Planned Parenthood is fighting the South Dakota ban on abortion and they are asking you to host or attend a potluck fundraiser for choice.

Potluck House Parties will be held across the country to raise money and build awareness for the campaign to defeat the abortion ban in South Dakota.

Sign up to host a Potluck for South Dakota with your friends and family!

Use their online tools to create, manage and promote your potluck.

The host whose potluck raises the most money will win a Newman’s Own gift basket and a trip to New York City to meet Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards!

Or you can find a potluck near you to attend.

Planned Parenthood NYC has just sent me an email that endorses Velmanette Montgomery (SD-18) and Eric Adams (SD-20) for State Senate. They both score 100% pro-choice on Planned Parenthood's questionaire. Tracy Boyland (opposing Velmanette), and Anthony Alexis and Guillermo Philpotts (opposing Eric Adams) never bothered to respond to Planned Parenthood's questions. So, the pro-choice vote in my neighborhood is Velmanette Montgomery and Eric Adams.