"You can't be raped if you're already a whore"

.....is essentially what a Philadelphia judge told a rape victim, who just happened to be a prostitute.

"The sex worker, a 20-year-old single mother, negotiated sex with the defendant over the phone. When she arrived, she agreed to have sex with his friend for an additional charge.

Instead, the friend arrived and pulled a gun. Two other men also arrived, and the four forced her to have sex at gunpoint.

But Deni dropped the rape charges stemming from the Sept. 20 incident because she believed that the prostitute had "consented and she didn't get paid."

"I thought it was a robbery," she told me.

Deni also told me the case "minimizes true rape cases and demeans women who are really raped" - which seemed to confirm DeSipio's claim that her ruling was based on moral contempt rather than the law."

There is not a ton of information online about this story but the article mentions a grassroots movement to have this judge fired, and rightfully so. Anyway I'll stay off the soapbox for this issue - I think it kind of speaks for itself.

Linky

More of me showing off....

I've had a couple people ask for updated pics of Gunmunkee Jr., so here are a few from last weekend:

Enjoying all the attention he gets.

I got the whole "multitasking" thing down real quick.

This was about 2 weeks ago. I don't know what he is staring at. Or why he is naked.

Did ya know?

Found this page on Wikipedia that I thought was kind of interesting. Mostly because I had no idea that I am informally a hamster.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._state_residents_names

I've heard of some of the local slang names, like "Masshole", and of course some of the official names like "Granite Stater". I've heard the term "Vermonster" but only in reference to an ice cream sundae at Ben & Jerry's. But I also lived in Connecticut for 23 years and never heard of a "Connecticutioner."

Find your state, the semi-official names, and the slang names. Have you ever heard of what they have listed? The sources for the official or semi-official names are legit. But where the hell are they getting the slang?

My own little pat on the back

I'm not trying to start a "Yay me!" here but I gotta admit I'm proud of myself. I've been a smoker since I was 18 or 19 years old, at times over a pack a day, and I've tried quitting unsuccessfully many, many times. Then as of one month ago tomorrow, I finally managed to stop smoking without really realizing it.

As previously blogged, my son was born August 22. I had a cigarette before I drove the wifey to a doctor's appointment that morning. We went straight from there to the hospital, (and there are signs all over the place to remind you that you may not smoke anywhere on the grounds). There were some circumstances that caused us to stay in the hospital for 5 days; when we left on the 27th, I realized I had just gone 5 days without a cigarette... or even a craving.

Before the baby was born, I kept trying to psych myself up to quit (as mentioned I've tried it before, to no avail). I hadn't gone 5 days without a cigarette since, I don't know, 1998? I figured I'd ride it out for as long as possible so I threw out my pack and all my lighters. And having an infant at home has kept me busy enough not to really think about it (or to edit some video projects or play Xbox, but that's another blog). Last week, the state of New Hampshire enacted a law against smoking in bars and restaurants, so that may help to keep me away from it.

And to all you smokers out there...... don't worry, I'm not going to be one of those reformed smokers who tells you about the health dangers of smoking and its effects on the people around you, who carry around pictures of a smoker's black lung in their wallet (people who actually do that are pretty effin' sick) to show you what influenced them to quit. I'm just happy I'm saving 20 bucks a week.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!

I am a wicked impatient ass. I'll freely admit it. I bought an SUV just so that I'd be less worried about the undercarriage of the car when I bounce up off the curb to go around a line of traffic. I am in sales, and I think I'm pretty damn good at it - I'll hammer a potential new client because I want to get paid, well, yesterday. And when it comes to repairing my 360, there are no exceptions.

I shipped my 360 to Microsoft's repair center on Thursday of last week. Now, the guy on the phone said it would take 2-3 weeks from when I mail it to when they mail it back. So of course, yesterday I'm checking tracking numbers and the service website to see when I'm getting it back. I kind of realize I won't be playing Halo 3 on launch day but at least tell me that progress is being made.

The service website was down all day yesterday because of upgrades to the site. Fine, I have the UPS tracking number - logged in, it was delivered to the repair center on Monday. Yay! 3 day shipping only took.. um, 3 working days. It's incredible how that works. Is the fucking service website back online yet?

This morning, checked it out again. Lo and behold - it's back online! And when I check out my repair status, here's what I'm greeted with:

I am waiting for the missus to call me back with my repair ticket number, and I will immediately be calling Microsoft. Could be a small glitch but I'm a wicked impatient ass and I want my Xbox!