COMMENT ON DOWNTON ABBEY

This article is for those who found the recent episode of Downton Abbey about sexual assault to be offensive to their sensibilities.

Grow up, and then talk to your daughters and other important female people in your life about rape.

Let them know you will be there for them if someone sexually assaults them.

Don't hide in your self-centered pity-pot of armchair viewership and bemoan that your feelings are hurt from Julian Fellowes' fictional depiction.

This type of assault happens to real women, irregardless of age or class, every day of the year.

Let the female people in your life know they can be brave and tell a caring person in their lives.

Be a caring person in a victim's life. Help her go through the often intimidating medical and legal process of reporting a rape.

More importantly, let those you love know that they should not be ashamed of themselves when they are victims of this type of assault.

Please remember: Rape isn't about sex, it's a crime.

RESOURCES:

Feminist Majority Foundation: Sexual Assault

National Sexual Violence Resource Center

Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN)
The US Department of Justice:Sexual Assault

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A Tribute to a Wonderful Person

It's Only Obvious...

Could someone please, in the next season of Once Upon A Time, give Regina a t-shirt that states "FYI: Magic comes at a price, dearie." with "RIP Cora Mills" on the back? Her Majesty seems more and more out of touch with what is in front of her face. She should take a break from going after the Charmings and share war stories with Azula in The Beach episode of Avatar the Last Airbender because both of these girlfriends do not have what it takes to keep men without ripping out their hearts and controlling them.

TEN GOOD THINGS WE WANT TO HAPPEN ON THE NEXT SEASON OF DOWNTON ABBEY

UPDATE: 2/2/14

1.Mary hooking up with Branson. Please. The Matthew replacement that Fellowes is considering is not as much of a hunk as Branson and I doubt Tom Ellis has the pecs to out flex Allen Leech. The newbie would not even interest Barrow if served up on a silver platter buck naked except for a strategically placed fig leaf.

Oh, please, don't tease us anymore. Mary and Tom make the perfect couple with their cute kids and tragic back stories of actors who took a bunk faster than Edith's German-loving suitor.

2.A baby for Anna and Bates. Get cracking because it's about time after the long imprisonment story. They're happy but a baby would complete the picture. By the way, tough, Robert and Mary can dress themselves.

Poor Anna. We hope that Bates has the sense not to pursue her attacker so he doesn't end up on a date with Pierrepoint.

3.Edith finding someone who is not old, married or gay. Maybe Jimmy falls into her lap unless he, in Thomas' fantasies, is a closeted pillow-biter. Or, perhaps, Edith needs to find the woman of her dreams because she is not having any luck with the opposite sex. 

It looks like Edith's latest dance tune is going to be "Papa, Don't Preach". Somehow, it was always hard for us to imagine her getting preggers the old-fashioned way and being a married mum.

4.O'Brien leaving for India to be part of Shrimpy's entourage and encountering an unfortunate end. Can we please get rid of her in a very nasty way? How hard would it be to film an elephant stampede on a backlot?

Yay, she's gone! Where's the elephant?

5.The return of Ethel Parks, maybe with a client list just to spice things up a bit around the Abbey.

We, instead, got Braithwaite who left Downton in quite a hurry. Good riddance,"manipulative little witch". You were more of a whore than Ethel.

6.Rose and Jimmy? That would knock the socks off her uptight mother. Shagging the second footman and eloping...Won't Violet have something to say about this!

Rose, go for the jazz brother. Don't listen to your aunt Rosamund. She's just sour grapes over being jilted for her lady's maid.

7.Sybil Jr. and Charlie growing up together and getting married. Watch your blood pressure, Robert!

Sorry, my lord has already carked it over Edith's delicate condition.

8.Violet outliving everyone in the Abbey. It would be great to see Maggie Smith having the last word because she does that so very well.

 I do so love her spatting with Mrs. Crawley. They could go on the stage together. 'What is a stage? Is it like a weekend?'

9.Mosley ending up in the Malmsey butt. He's just not funny, even drunk.

Timing, it's what gets you the job. I think the term hapless describes him.

10.The last and most important wish for the series is that Thomas Barrow has a holiday in London so he can spec out some of the "pansy clubs" and meet the man/tran of his dreams. Putting an advert in the Link magazine for him is the kindest thing Mrs. Hughes could do for this under butler of unusual temperament. Wouldn't he enjoy a place where he could listen to Sam Lanin's Famous Players,'"The Man I Love" while dancing with a lithe someone of his own persuasion? 

No person of Barrow's inclination on the horizon but lots of male eye-candy hanging around Mary. The job does have perks.

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A Call to Stand Down

The Senate passed, according to the Christian Science Monitor, The National Defense Authorization Act that  covers  $662 billion in defense spending. The bill includes a provision that will strip American citizens of right to trial, and subject them to indefinite detention if the government considers them terrorists. This detention applies also to United States citizens who the government arrests on American soil. Essentially, the bill makes America a part of the battlefield against terrorism and makes every United States citizen a terrorist suspect. This takes away the rights the Constitution guarantees such as the freedom of speech that every writer cherishes. The Senate passed Bill 1867 by a vote of 93 to 7. However, President Obama has said that he will veto the bill.

Good. Let us as authors, citizens and voters keep  the waffler to his word. Bill 1867 and the National Defense Authorization Act is an issue in the presidential campaign. President Obama should give the bill an ignominious death in veto, or face former allies who will not turn out to support him. The 99% should be screaming from the streets that they will stay away from the polls and leave President Obama hoisted on this nasty and volatile petard come Election Day unless he protects the civil liberties and rights of American citizens by vetoing Bill 1867.

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The ERA Is Now

Phyllis Schlafly must have her corset bunched at Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) and Senator Robert Menendez’s (D-NJ) reintroduction of the Equal Rights Amendment in Congress. However there is not any valid protest that she can raise to the legislation in its current embodiment.

Let’s go through the list of some objections to the ERA in 1975:

●Then: There will be unisex bathrooms.

Now: There are gender neutral baby diaper changing stations and accommodations for the handicapped. It is nice to know that men can change diapers too. It is more important that handicapped people can go places and have full lives like the non-handicapped.

●Then: Women will have to serve in combat.

Now: Woman serve in the military, even in combat zones.

●Then: Women will have to work outside the home.

Now: The unemployment rate for everyone is high because of hedge fund implosions and carpet bagging mortgage lenders.

●Then: Women will lose their husband’s Social Security and pension benefits.

Now: Husbands don’t have Social Security and pension benefits because of the shysters on Wall Street who cheated the middle class and poor out of their hard earned wages.

●Then: Same-sex marriage.

Now: This will happen in my lifetime. I just hope it happens in Schlafly’s


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