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Fort Hood, Texas, hosts tens of thousands of men who are trained to fight for their country. But none of them stopped Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan as he blew away 13 of their colleagues Thursday afternoon. It was a civilian police officer, Sgt. Kimberly Munley, who shot him. For her trouble, Munley took a bullet in her leg. Maybe the president will also pin a medal on her.
Here's a better way to honor Munley: End the ban on women in combat.
Department of Defense policy states that "women shall be excluded from assignment to units below the brigade level whose primary mission is to engage in direct combat on the ground." According to the policy, "Direct ground combat takes place well forward on the battlefield."
Well forward on the battlefield? In Iraq and Afghanistan, there is no forward. There isn't even a battlefield. We're living in a world of car bombs, snipers, suicide bombers, improvised explosive devices, and civilian airplane attacks. The battlefield is everywhere ... (Read the rest of this article in Slate).
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Jon Hamm spent most of the Saturday Night Live episode he hosted last night shirtless.
Confessions of a Woman Comedy Writer
Allison Silverman accepts one from New York Women in Film & Television (and tells us why it's rare).
Comments
Women
By: GideonL | Sun, 11/15/2009 - 23:24
Yes, women can have the ability to defend America. But we cannot give to them all the credit when they have done something noble. Just like at the Fort Hood shooting, Police Sgt. Kimberly Munley was not the one who put the gunman down,but it was Sgt. Mark Todd who did. Maybe Munley was so popular because she was the one injured first.But actually, she is not that the real hero here. Anyway, she has done her part as a soldier. Maybe if she was not shot first she could be the one who could put that gunman first. I think many women are becoming strong and fighters nowadays. I think even Chris Dodd could do nothing if they stood up against him.
Women are just as capable as
By: chickey_soup | Mon, 11/09/2009 - 14:53
Women are just as capable as men. Sure, we are not biologically the same but that has no bearing, especially not in this day and age of war. This is simply another vestige of keeping women out of a man's world.
The Real XX Problem
By: MrJM | Sun, 11/08/2009 - 19:02
Nothing in this article addresses Newt Gingrich's observation that, "If combat means living in a ditch, females have biological problems staying in a ditch for thirty days because they get infections and they don't have upper body strength."
-- MrJM
http://twitter.com/misterjayem
*"Renewing American Civilization," Class Lecture at Reinhardt College, (January 7, 1995)
F.D.R. R.I.P.
By: PeteMauss | Sat, 11/07/2009 - 19:54
So as her reward for saving Fort Hood, you'd place her and other women on the Afghan forward battle field.
You're really too kind, especially since the President doesn't have an objective there. Oh, wait a minute, I just happen to have an objective, adapted from the Allies' 1945 Potsdam Declaration to Japan:
Terms for Afghanistan's Surrender
Herenow, November 7th, 2009 announcing the U.S., Allied terms for
Afghanistan's surrender, with the warning, "We will not deviate from
them. There are no alternatives. We shall brook no delay." For
Afghanistan, the terms of the declaration specify:
The elimination for all time of the authority and influence of those
who have deceived and misled the people of Afghanistan into embarking
on world conquest.
The occupation of points in Afghan territory to be designated by the
Allies.
Afghan sovereignty shall be limited, and to such minor points as we
determine.
The Afghan military forces shall be completely disarmed.
Stern justice shall be meted out to all war criminals, including those
who have visited cruelties upon our prisoners.
This declaration offers that:
We do not intend that the Afghans shall be enslaved as a race or
destroyed as a nation, ... The Afghan Government shall remove all
obstacles to the revival and strengthening of democratic tendencies
among the Afghan people. Freedom of speech, of religion, and of
thought, as well as respect for the fundamental human rights shall be
established.
Afghanistan shall be permitted to maintain such industries as will
sustain her economy and permit the exaction of just reparations in
kind, ... Afghan participation in world trade relations shall be
permitted.
The occupying forces of the Allies shall be withdrawn from Afghanistan
as soon as these objectives have been accomplished and there has been
established in accordance with the freely expressed will of the Afghan
people a peacefully inclined and responsible government.
We call upon the government of Afghanistan to proclaim now the
unconditional surrender of all Afghan armed forces, and to provide
proper and adequate assurances of their good faith in such action. The
alternative for Afghanistan is prompt and utter destruction.
-Pete Mauss,
"Man knows no master save creating Heaven, or those whom choice and common good ordain," (Thomas Paine).