After Hilary Rosen’s remarks about Ann Romney’s life as a homemaker, some thought Democrats might tread more cautiously in their attempt to paint the GOP as being anti-women. Nope.

On Capitol Hill, Democrats are aggressively pushing the case that Republicans are now waging a “War on Women” on three legislative fronts. First, they are blasting House Republicans for their proposal to block changes to the Violence Against Women Act that would extend protection to battered women who are LGBT, immigrants or Native Americans who live on tribal lands. “We are seeing the sheer gender bias of their so-called ‘clean’ bill,” Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Wis.) said Friday. “They don’t want to sully their hands dealing with women in the shadows.”

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I was molested as a child. There was no ominous stranger or dark alley. This abuse was perpetrated by someone I knew and by someone who knew me -- a family friend. Sadly, these events of my youth would only be the beginning of a lifetime of experiences with abuse and violence.

When I was in high school -- an ambitious young woman, very focused on my education -- a young man joked with his friends and made a bet that he could "bed the egghead." He took me out on what I thought was an innocent date with the boy that I liked, and when he got me alone, he forced himself on me. It was my 18th birthday. I don't even think he thought it was wrong. He and his friends thought it was a rite of passage, nothing big. But it altered the course of my life.

These memories hold much pain and haunted me through many phases of my life. But it is partly through these experiences that I found my calling -- to be an advocate for the many nameless, faceless and voiceless women and children who endure this abuse everyday throughout this country.

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The UMOS Latina Resource Center will hold a fundraiser Friday, April 13, beginning at 5 p.m. at Discovery World to raise money for its family domestic violence programs and services.
This year the event focuses on the theme "Help us turn frowns into rainbows." The "My Rainbow" program is a bilingual psycho educational support group for children aged 8 -12 who have witnessed or been exposed to domestic violence.

The program works to provide children a safe place to share their experiences and to express their feelings. The children also learn positive coping skills and safety planning.

The center also provides counseling, support and advocacy for adults and teens.

MILWAUKEE -- Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett met Wednesday with workers at a local railroad facility trying to put a stop to dozens of potential layoffs.

Talgo, the company once tasked with building high-speed rail in Wisconsin, now stands to layoff 35 workers after the 2009 project was mothballed and the state removed funding for a maintenance facility in 2012.

"These are beautiful trains," mechanic James Spence said. "With this plant closing and not a chance of a maintenance facility ... I'll be out of a job."
Barrett visited the plant with Rep. Gwen Moore.

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