I'm not an early adaptor

I love watching television in bed. Love it so much that I haven't curled up on the couch with Mr. Sweetypants to watch a movie in a couple of years. That sort of thing is for courters and young newlyweds. We're an old married couple.

The bedroom TV was only five years old and perfectly fine by me, especially since I paid for it and have a lot of Scottish blood in my veins. I'm still using the perfectly fine, fake-wood-paneled, large-enough-to-cook-a-turkey-in microwave I received as a graduation present.

Anyhoo, the Christmas electronic sales were too powerful for Mr. Sweetypants to resist. He bought a new, HD flat-panel TV for the bedroom. The perfectly fine TV has sat in our office for two months.

The woman who owns the house-cleaning service we use belongs to a church with an outreach service and "clothes closet" for underprivileged people. I give her bags of clothes to donate regularly. So I asked her if she knew anyone who might be able to use the perfectly fine TV.

She informed me everyone has a flat-panel now and I should have given it away before Christmas.

Tell your senator that no means no

(HUGE DISCLAIMER: This is a humor blog, but this is important.)

The GOP is fighting to restrict financial aid for abortions by redefining the legal definition of rape. Under the new definition, only a pregnancy resulting from "forcible rape" can be terminated by the victim. Pregnancies resulting from statutory rape, in women who were raped while drugged or extremely intoxicated, in mentally incapable women, or in many of the victims of date rape would not be covered under this narrow definition.

I wrote the following to my NC GOP Senator:

Dear Senator Burr,

You would never demand sex in return for a dinner date or force yourself on a handicapped or intoxicated woman. Or have your way with a mentally retarded teenager.

But some men do.

You will never experience the physical pain and never-ending shame and emotional trauma of rape: S
ex without consent. Or the agonizing experience of reliving it to policemen (if you're brave enough) or in front of a jury (if you're lucky enough).

A lot of women do.

I'm asking you, as my senator, to please explain to your colleagues that denigrating rape victims and giving a free pass to rapists is a vulgar, crass way to achieve your legislative goals.

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Please contact your Republican senators (feel free to cut and paste the above) as soon as you can.

NC peeps, go here. Under "topics," DON'T select "abortion," select "Health Care."

Peeps in other states, find your senators here.

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Thanks, kids.