A thank you message

I found this in my mailbox from reannon


Dear friends and Friends-of-Angel,

A funny thing happened earlier this week: random paypals started appearing in my inbox, many of them from people I don't even know. It turns out my dear friend Angel, aware of the catastrophe in which I am currently stuck, held something of a "bake sale." I don't know all the details because she is a sneaky little elf and didn't tell me about it.

Suffice to say I am floored into uncharacteristic speechlessness by the generosity of friends and strangers. Because you probably don't know me: I'm a single mom with two jobs, and just got hit with a pay cut - which beats getting laid off - and a huge car repair bill at the same time. Life, man. It sure can grab you at the wrong time.

Your generosity means my son eats this month, in an apartment with electricity. There aren't words for that.

Thank you for your kindness and willingness to help someone you might not even know. I believe in Pay It Forward, and will do my part once we are back in the black. In the meantime, enjoy whatever Angel offered, and give her your continued support in her endeavors. She is an angel in the true sense of the word.

ekd
--------
Elizabeth Donald
Visit the Literary Underworld at www.elizabethdonald.com


Let me add my own thanks to hers, esp. to ginmar who boosted the signal.

As it turns out, I write a pretty good ritual

It was...more Gardnerian than we usually use. More "So mote it be" and "blessed be"s, but I liked it. When your 17 year old thinks you did a great job and got something out of the Working to boot? It's a good rit.

The opening was intense. As each came into the circle, I touched a dot of oil to the third eye chakra and greeted them. Just smiling and looking into each person's eyes... That got to me.

The circle cast beautifully, but I couldn't keep candles lit.

It was kind of a Transition ritual, because this is the time when Maiden is becoming Mother and Green Man is becoming Horned God. And there was a lot of Robin Hood involved. 8) Because May is Robin's Month and Robin is the Green Man.

Justice for Abeer Hazma and her family

http://uk.reuters.com/article/usTopNews/idUKTRE5468HP20090507?sp=true

LOUISVILLE, Kentucky (Reuters) - A former U.S. soldier was convicted on Thursday of raping an Iraqi girl and killing her and her family near Baghdad in 2006 and now faces a possible death sentence.

The federal court jury that delivered guilty verdicts on all 16 counts against former Private 1st Class Steven Green will decide his fate in the trial's death penalty phase beginning on Monday.

...
Green, 19 at the time of the crime, was described as the trigger-man in the group of five men, who donned black "ninja" outfits and raped Abeer Qassim Hamza al-Janabi, 14, and shot to death her and her father, mother and 6-year-old sister.

Of the others:
Spc. James Barker was sentenced to 90 years and must serve 20 before being eligible for parole.

Sgt. Paul E. Cortez was sentenced to 100 years and will be eligible in 10.

Pfc. Jesse Spielman, 110 years, eligible in 10.

Pfc. Brian Howard, dishonorable discharge and 27 months imprisonment for obstruction of justice and being an accessory after the fact.




I took this case very personally. Except for the mother's age, the family was an exact parallel to mine. Every time I read about it, it was Bun's face I saw peering shyly from a hijab. It was Dollface, age 6, I saw dead on the floor. It was Jonner and Obi coming home from school to find our corpses, Bun naked and burned. I had nightmares like I've never had for reading of any atrocity.

And I demanded of the virulant defenders of the war, "If you're doing this there, how long before you're doing it HERE? How long is it before it's MY family you kill?"