Archive for May, 2008
Women in sports and the military
Tuesday, May 27th, 2008
What sports should be off-limits to a qualified woman?
Glenn Reynolds has been talking about his cousin, the ski jumper and how the International Olympic Committee banned them. And now, small colleges are boosting their enrollment with women’s sports like wrestling and it has nothing to do with Title IX and everything to do with money.
I’m trying to think of a sport where a woman shouldn’t play. That might not mean inclusion on a men’s team, though. Women have significantly less upper body strength (and lower body strength) than men (the average woman) so the fight wouldn’t exactly be fair in a sport like wrestling.
What if a woman is so extraordinary she could succeed on the men’s team? And then does that mean men should be allowed to play on women’s teams? My opinion is still that women shouldn’t be in combat, if only because in hand-to-hand combat and things like trudging through the countryside she’s at such a disadvantage, not to mention that a woman is victimized in brutal ways should she be captured.
It seems to me that it’s possible to recognize the biological differences and go for as much inclusion as possible.
The Conservative Answer To The Daily Kos?
Tuesday, May 27th, 2008Go check out The Next Right a start-up blog by Jon Henke, Patrick Ruffini and Soren Dayton. Will it be the Right’s answer to the Daily Kos? We’ll see!
Cross-posted at Right Wing News.
How Does White Guilt Help?
Tuesday, May 27th, 2008Megan McCardle writes about racism and conservatives (via Instapundit). The comments are really interesting. Go read them. The opinions range from a self-righteous defense of white guilt to diminishing the contributions of prominent black conservatives because they’re not really conservative.
So let me get this straight: Liberals are better than conservatives because they feel bad that there’s racism and they’re justified in using blacks to make them feel better, but that’s not racism that’s “promoting diversity”.
As Ms. McArdle says:
It’s also worth noting that the presidential candidate who has done the most to exploit the racism of others this election season is liberal Democrat Hillary Clinton, whose campaign, though bullish on sexism, has spent a lot more time talking about how it is constrained by political correctness in its campaign against Barack Obama than being concerned with actual racism.
Conservative find discrimination based on race or gender repugnant. As the Democratic primary season has amply demonstrated, identity politics, when taken to its logical end, is absurd. What is the big idea on the Left these days?
How does feeling guilty for wrongs people committed generations ago change the reality today? How does feeling better because you’re guilty help? It’s irrational. And the policies that liberals espouse are irrational and lead to the exact opposite place they intend. New Orleans is a liberal government let to run amok for years. In the north, there’s Detroit and Philadelphia. All three cities have been run by liberal policies. The results have been anything but good especially for black people. And in places like Key West and San Francisco, other places where liberal politics are practiced, poor people of any color cannot live there. Now, who exactly is discriminatory?
And then there are the individual implications. One of my genius friends happens to be black (he’s not genius enough to be conservative). He was educated in a fantastic university and not because of affirmative action. But how galling would it be to work your ass off and be presumed to have needed lowered standards in order to make it?
It is irrational to believe that racism doesn’t exist. It does. It is also irrational to believe that by focusing on race and feeling guilty, racism will end.
Cross-posted at Right Wing News.
Gary Sinise Supports Our Troops
Tuesday, May 27th, 2008At least one actor supports the troops and by support, I mean, actually seems to like them and want to honor them.
I Have One Nerve Left And Michelle Obama Is Sitting On It
Monday, May 26th, 2008I have one nerve left thanks to a toddler and his feuding siblings (actually, they get along pretty well), annnnnyway, Michelle Obama gets all over that one nerve. I’ve posted about her before (here, here, and here). Like I said, I find her the only compelling figure in this election. Hillary will say anything for power. Barack is as bland as butter-free toast; project all your hope and change onto the bland man. His blandness is what’s so exciting about him. McCain knows what’s right for everyone, if only we’ll listen to his hoary-headed wisdom.
And then there’s Michelle. Since Barack won’t say what he really thinks, or not too often, Michelle steps in with her wit, wisdom and whine. Tom McGuire has more about her here. He says:
Ms. Obama has nailed down the “Whiny, Self-Absorbed Pessimist” demographic. Let’s see if that becomes a key part of the Obama coalition.
Actually, I think “whiny, self-absorbed pessimist” is the Obama coalition.
Jerusalem
Monday, May 26th, 2008John Ray over at Stop the ACLU inspired me with one of my favorite hymns: Jerusalem. He posted the words and some commentary that is well-worth reading, and I’m going to post a YouTube version from one of my favorite movies: Chariots of Fire. Here are the words again:
And did those feet in ancient time
Walk upon England’s mountains green?
And was the holy Lamb of God
On England’s pleasant pastures seen?
And did the Countenance Divine
Shine forth upon our clouded hills?
And was Jerusalem builded here
Among these dark Satanic mills?
Bring me my bow of burning gold:
Bring me my arrows of desire:
Bring me my spear: O clouds unfold!
Bring me my chariot of fire.
I will not cease from mental fight,
Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand
Till we have built Jerusalem
In England’s green and pleasant land.
I have visited England’s land and it is indeed green and pleasant and blessed. It is a crying shame what that once great country is allowing to happen (via Instapundit). I fear America is not far behind.
Memorial Day
Monday, May 26th, 2008Update: McCain’s speech.
Gateway Pundit has an awesome poster brought to us by the soldiers themselves.
John Hawkins shares war quotes. One of my favorites is from Winston Churchill but not on this list: “When going through hell, keep going.”
MaxedOutMama says, “Peace is not the natural state of mankind, and peace dies the day there are no more soldiers.”
Michelle Malkin quotes soldiers. Here’s one of my favorites,”Live free or die. Death is not the worst of evils.”
Donald Sensing writes this (read the whole thing):
Historian and retired infantry officer T. R. Fehrenbach observed that the virtues required to protect a democracy are often at odds with the virtues of democracy. So while we cherish life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness as just ends of democratic freedom, our Marines put their lives at risk, surrender many personal liberties and submit to rigorous discipline that is often most unhappy.
Why did they do this? The most reasonable thing to do when battle begins is to run away, not stay and fight. Were they truly willing to die for their country? I don’t think so. There’s an old story that goes back probably to the Civil War of the young soldier whose commander asked him, “Are you willing to die for your country?” The young man answered, “Certainly not. But I am ready to die, unwilling.”The American armed forces really have no use for someone who is willing to die. We do not seek and soon weed out anyone seeking martyrdom in battle; this is a key distinction between us and our enemy. We do not send our soldiers, sailors, airmen or Marines to die even though we know some inevitably will. Our country is instead ably protected by those who accept the risk rather than seek it. But why accept it? What civilians rarely discern but what every veteran knows is that military service, especially in battle, is steeped with the convictions of deepest emotion.
In battle there is fear and courage, anger and compassion. There is resignation and determination. There is hope and despair. The chief emotion of the battlefield is an unlikely one. It is love. Across the range of mental, physical and emotional states in the desolation of combat, love abides.
Kim DuToit writes: “Charles Loxton thought only about other people his entire life.”
Rachel Lucas remembers her grandpa who died in WWII.
Remembering visually.
Words of advice for Memorial Day revelers.
“How do you remember something you’ve never learned?” Fred Thompson asks. Via Photon Courier who has more links.
Pierre LeGrand, “Do not dishonor them.”
Via Powerline, “We are their children.”
A prayer from Red State.
Tigerhawk says, “Welcome home.” Best picture of our soldiers returning home I’ve seen for a while.
“Remember the wounded.” Blackfive has more.
Rolling Thunder via Blogs of War.
The Warrior Caste by Greyhawk.
About As Accurate As Hurricane Prediction
Monday, May 26th, 2008I’ve been wanting to link this: The Racial Resentment Index. Kinda like the Heat Index only more racist.
Finding The Courage To Fight–UPDATE
Monday, May 26th, 2008Residents find the courage to fight the Mormans. Now, substitute Muslim for Morman through this whole article and see what you think.
Update: Knowledge of Islam makes fighting it easier. (Via Instapundit)
Feminism’s Fallout: Part II
Monday, May 26th, 2008Yesterday, I wrote about feminism’s unintended consequences–namely that women end up feeling compelled to make one choice or else they betray the movement’s ideals. That choice, to forgo having children in order to make their career mark, denudes women of their biology and deprives them of a choice.
Before I get to feminism’s deleterious affects on men, I’d like to write a bit about the victim-mentality that has seeped into the DNA of even the most powerful of Western women. I am, of course, alluding to Hillary Clinton. Peggy Noonan wrote a must-read piece about great women leaders and how they never made excuses or blamed prejudice for their place in the world. Noonan says:
It is sissy. It is blame-gaming, whining, a way of not taking responsibility, of not seeing your flaws and addressing them. You want to say “Girl, butch up, you are playing in the leagues, they get bruised in the leagues, they break each other’s bones, they like to hit you low and hear the crack, it’s like that for the boys and for the girls.”And because the charge of sexism is all of the above, it is, ultimately, undermining of the position of women. Or rather it would be if its source were not someone broadly understood by friend and foe alike to be willing to say anything to gain advantage.
First, I’d like to say how pleased I am that Peggy Noonan reads my posts seeing as how “butch up” was the phrase that got me in trouble with the menfolk (well, some of them). It’s nice to know that I’m on her radar. Second, to Ms. Noonan’s point: Hillary Clinton embodies the problem with the women’s movement. She was a party to her husband’s victimizing of women and turns around now, to decry her own victimization. By whom? She does need to butch up. She has the benefit of being treated just like a man. She is not being condescended to. She is not being patronized. No, she is in a fight for the most powerful office in the land and she does women no favors when she weeps in self-pity and cries sexism when she’s in a tight spot.
Eh, I’m not going to get to men again, today. I’m going to just stay with the victim mentality. It is tiresome and ubiquitous and it is holding women back. A woman will not ever become president if she plays the poor little girl. A woman will not receive respect at work or at home playing the victim. Even Jesus chided the martyr Martha and that was in a decidedly paternalistic environment.
Women who carry their victim status as a prized possession limit their world. Let me just be clear here: it’s stomach turning to see anyone throw a protracted pity party. Who ever said life was easy? Women who want parity in what they describe as the “man’s world” need to stop making excuses. They need to embrace equality. That means when a woman makes an accusation that sounds outrageous, the women who hear it will slow down, wait and reserve judgment because that’s what a reasoned person, male or female, does. When they jump to the woman’s defense because she has the benefit of ovaries, they make women look foolish.
I’m as eager as the next woman to see a great woman leader emerge in America. I don’t see how it’s going to happen when women continue to see themselves as victims. When Nancy Pelosi surrounds herself with her grandchildren and claims the power of her ovaries first and the power of her ideas second, women are bound to be viewed as ninnies.
Does this seem counter to what I wrote in my last post, where I wrote that fully buying feminist dogma limits a woman’s choices–specifically motherhood? Well, here’s the deal: a strong woman is a strong woman. The whole notion that a woman is weak by being a mother insults mothers. Conversely, a woman is not innately superior because she can birth. That belief is as sexist as believing that men are superior because they have testes.
Leadership means having bigger ideas, more internal fortitude, further foresight, deeper wisdom. Any person who exhibits these traits will have followers. Viewing oneself as a victim runs directly counter to being a worthy leader.
Feminism ceases to be relevant because to be a feminist is to be a victim. Any self-respecting woman wants no part of the victim talk. They want to be victors in all their endeavors. Success means being the best at whatever path one chooses. Real women wait for the post-feminist world where people are valued for their character and their accomplishments. Scratch that. They aren’t waiting, they’re created that world now. Feminists are being left behind.
