Military Sexual Assault - How it Keeps the Ladies Away

When I was a high school senior in 1995, military recruiters called my house about once a month.

I am a smart lady; I would have been a good soldier, but I would not consider joining the military. You could not have paid me enough to join.
 
I learned about Tailhook and other sexual harassment and sexual assault cases through the news. The military was not safe then. It is not safe today.

Sexual assaults will happen - to women, men, boys and girls.  It is what society does about these crimes that matters. The military has a history of doing basically...........nothing.
 
In today's news we learn that Lt. Col. James Wilkerson is one lucky man- convicted of rape but set free by his boss. From the Washington Post: "The pilot, Lt. Col. James Wilkerson, had been found guilty in November by an all-male jury at Aviano Air Base in Italy in what was seen as a test case of the Air Force’s willingness to tackle such crimes."

Why is the composition of the jury mentioned?  One supposes that an all-male jury wouldn't convict one of its own for a frivolous wishy-washy rape accusation. Since a group of men convicted him, Lt. Col. James Wilkerson must have committed Rape Rape.  Since it was Rape Rape, it is all the more shocking that Lt. Gen. Craig A. Franklin, commander of the Third Air Force in Europe, acquitted him and set him free.

Congress is all upset, but Congress sets the rules for the military. If it is not happy with the system it has created, change it.

The Invisible War by Kirby Dick details the stories of men and women who survived sexual assault only to face condescension and outright hostility from their peers and superiors. If this documentary helps change the Armed Forces, and the chew-women-up-and-spit-them-out culture no longer thrives, the pool of young women willing to join will expand.

Aural Hematoma in Pets

Harper and Drew got into a fight over a rawhide chew on the 7th of February. I was unable to get to them with a spray bottle to break it up, so it lasted longer than an ordinary fight. Toward the end I heard yelping. Not a good sign. As usual after a fight I checked the both of them over really well.

While Drew was fine, Harper had a number of minor lacerations to the outside of his ear or pinna.  He shook his head before I could clean him up and stop the bleeding.  I later found blood on my bathroom mirror and the top of my toilet from a 23 lb dog shaking his head.  But the shaking did more than dirty up the bathroom.

I checked Harper's ears the next day and found a squishy but painless swelling the size and shape of a lima bean on the underside of Harper's pinna. Hmmm... lima bean.  I planned to let it go, and if it was still there when my dogs went for their annual visit in March, I'd let the vet know. A week later it was still painless but it had the thickness of large baby carrot and extended about 2 1/2 inches down to the tip of his pinna. The weight of it caused his ear to hang low. The next day the vet pronounced the swelling an aural hematoma.

The pinna is composed of cartilage sandwiched between two layers of skin. If a capillary is injured it can leak out stretching and filling the space between skin and cartilage. For most dogs, repeated head shaking causes the injury.The usual cause for this shaking is an ear infection or ear mites. Harper's ears were free from infection and mites. Trauma was the cause of his hematoma. His head shaking must have busted a fight-injured capillary or increased bleeding from one that was already ruptured from the fight.

My vet explained three methods of treatment, two of which she would not do.

Fandango Sucks. Tribute Movies Doesn't.

This is such a beautiful website:

www.TributeMovies.com

All the information I want without all the ads.

It's not fancy Fandango with all the slow loading graphics. It's not The Washington Post weekend movie section which never seems to load correctly.

It's old school internet.  I love it.

CJLL #7

 

A 1750s engraving picturing a devilish figure with tail, horns, and mustache hammering his cock like a blacksmith to make it longer, one would assume.

 The Cully Flaug'd and a torturous looking orgy

Historic sex toys from the 1700s (two dildos) auctioned off for over $5,000 - Ever wondered if people masturbated in the 1700s? Well they did, and they did it with tremendous kink. 

 

 A tower of ladies getting hit with a birching, and another dirty picture from the 1700s with a bonus hairy cock-shaped lantern on the wall.

Seventeenth century Japanese Natsuke Figurines (rope bondage)

Renaissance Royal Revels - 15th century - looks to me like pony play with a bridle and whip; A sketch taken from Last Judgement 1541 - that may show anal fisting; 1600s woodblock - Pan's got a boner

A No Good Rotten Day

Yesterday was a pretty bad day. 

It was so noisy: three helicopters over my house in the morning, honking cars on the way to Georgetown in the afternoon, construction in the parking garage that was deafening and audible in the upper floors of the building, more helicopters over my office, rain on the roof, barking dogs. Sometimes I just hate noise.

I showed up to my psychiatrist's office two days early.  I called the day before to confirm my appointment, but apparently the phones were down so they could not call me to tell me that my appointment was Friday.  Maybe I expect too much, but if I knew someone would be driving all that way to come on the wrong day, I'd use my personal cell phone to make a one minute call to let them know. But as some libertarians say, While I cannot push you into a fire, it is not my responsibility to pull you out. Sometimes I wish I could be so callous.

I ran into my psychiatrist in the hall.  He said that if I got my chart he could fit me in. The lady at the front desk didn't believe me and told me I'd have to wait about 3 hours, and she didn't want to give me my chart. I told her I'd wait as long as I needed to. But Jesus Christ, just do what I fucking ask you to do. Give me my fucking chart.

Anyway, got the chart and sat down to wait, then I started to cry out of pure frustration at myself for having such problems getting appointments right and at the fucking universe for having the nerve to have nonfunctional phones.

My wonderful psychiatrist fit me in almost immediately. After initial hellos, the first thing out of his mouth was "Are you going to the big S & M event in DC this weekend?" I told him that I was not going to Fetfest but I knew some people who were. He said he knew about it because a group he likes, the Kinsey Sicks, will be playing at the event.

My psychiatrist is a man well into his 70s. He just got back into the office after hip replacement surgery. And he loves the Kinsey Sicks.  (Video below) He's a pretty cool dude. And yay for nonjudgmental, sex-positive mental healthcare professionals.



By the time I got back to my office, I was on the verge of cussing everyone out.  My lovely coworkers talked me out of most of the bad mood.  I went to the grocery store after work, had a veggie pizza and cleaned a bit.  The sense of accomplishment in putting some stuff away helped lift my mood.

I watched Nature and Nova on MPT.  The Nova episode, Earth from Space,  blew my mind wide open. My Ms. Drew laid pressed up against me on the couch, emitting her signature silent but deadly farts. Introducing the new fragrance Deadly(TM) by Drew.

By bedtime I felt OK. 

When I have a bad day, I'm reminded of how well I'm taking care of myself, staying on my meds, working hard in therapy, making good choices about who I have in my life, what I do with my time, and how I handle setbacks. Almost every day was like this a few years ago.  Now a rotten day is rare, and I'm very grateful for that.

We Are All On The Warm Side Of The Color Wheel

Unfortunately had to steal the image from Jezebel.

Lose yourself in Humanae by Angelica Dass.

From the palest pink to rose to mauve to tan to copper to chocolate, we are all on the warm side of the color wheel. A similar project based on eye color would be awesome.