Center for Anti-Violence Education Punch-a-thon
June 5th from 10:30am – 12:30pm
In Prospect Park near the Lincoln Road/Ocean Avenue entrance to Prospect Park

My wife has been training at a local Brooklyn Karate Dojo for many years. She is, in fact, now in training to be a teacher there. The Dojo is unusual in that it is only for women, children and transgendered people. The Dojo is called the Center for Anti-Violence Education and here is their statement of purpose:

The Center for Anti-Violence Education (CAE) works as a catalyst for change in the lives of women, LGBT people, teen women, children, and other communities especially affected by violence. CAE’s programs are designed to develop participants’ skills, knowledge, and awareness to enable them to heal from, prevent, and counter violence. We do this work to actively create a peaceful, just, and equitable world.

Every year the Dojo raises money for their efforts through a punch-a-thon. My wife and son are participating in this fundraiser and I ask you to contribute to their excellent efforts through their pledge page (my son is the team leader).

Where Your Money Goes:

* $25: Enrolls a low-income child in an hour workshop on bullying and conflict de-escalation.
* $50: Provides a homeless LGBT young person with a two hour workshop in violence prevention.
* $100: Teaches self-defense and empowerment strategies to a pre-teen girl in our two-week course.
* $250: Provides a full 5-week Self-Defense Course for a survivor of intimate partner violence.
* $500: Reaches 20 survivors of domestic violence with strategies for self-defense and violence prevention.  read more »

Planned Parenthood has sent out an email specifically outlining why Sarah Palin is NOT the choice for women. Here is the text:

Dear Sarah Palin,

You are not our candidate.

You are not our candidate because you required women in Wasilla to pay for their own medical examinations after being raped.

You are not our candidate because you do not support a woman's right to choose, even in the case of rape or incest.

You are not our candidate because you've cut funding for teen moms and comprehensive sex education, while promoting failed abstinence-only programs.

You are not our candidate because, as vice president — a heartbeat away from the presidency — you would jeopardize health care for women everywhere.

We are teachers, doctors, athletes, programmers, artists, lawyers, secretaries, CEOs, students, designers, nurses, factory workers, mothers, and fathers. We are conservatives and liberals, Democrats and Republicans, country and city people. We are women and men. We are voters. We are the Planned Parenthood Action Fund.  read more »

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.  read more »

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.  read more »

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/  read more »