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Opening Arguments

My women

Where, oh, where are the rugged women of yore who stood toe-to-toe with men and demanded respect and equal treatment? Today,we have the likes of Sandra Fluke, the Georgetown law student who demanded that we all pay her $10 a month for birth control pills and now in the running for Time magazine's person of the year:

One could argue that the icon of the failing Obama economy is the college grad with a worthless degree under his arm and a bed in his mom’s basement.

Time magazine gives us Sandra Fluke, with a bachelor’s degree in (no joke) Feminist, Gender, & Sexuality Studies, no marketable skills, and still on the academic track, living on the largess of others.

I’m not trying to be mean to Sandra Fluke. Unlike Rush Limbaugh I make no comment on her personal life or sexual proclivities.

But I also didn’t — and would never — put this unaccomplished 30-something on the “Person of the Year” list for publicly whining about paying her own bills.

Of course she's probably a perfect choice in a world in which President Obama's "Julia" ads about the woman extolling the virtues of cradle-to-grave dependence on government were effective enough to get a majority of the unmarried-woman vote.

Oh, wait, I've found my women:

Four female service members filed a lawsuit Tuesday challenging the Pentagon's ban on women serving in combat, hoping the move will add pressure to drop the policy just as officials are gauging the effect that lifting the prohibition will have on morale.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in San Francisco, is the second one this year over the 1994 rule that bars women from being assigned to ground combat units, which are smaller and considered more dangerous since they are often in battle for longer periods.

Now, there are lots of good arguments on both sides of the women-in-combat debate, which have discussed here from time to time over the years. It's an issue that tests our concepts of who we are and how we should behave toward one another far more, I think, than the gays-in-the-military issue.

But whatever else can be said, these women deserve our praise and admiration for being willing to stand up and take equal risks for their country. God bless 'em. I'll take one of them in my corner over 100 Sandra Flukes and Julias.

Comments

Andrew Jarosh
Wed, 11/28/2012 - 5:52pm

Well u wont find these women in leadership roles in the GOP if u look at the latest republican committee chairmen just announced.

tim zank
Wed, 11/28/2012 - 10:47pm

Yes AJ, kudos to Huffpo for the earth shattering revelation....no "diversity" in the republican committee pic's...they made their pics on THEIR preferences,  not yours...how raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaacist...and sexist...

Placing unqualified people in positions solely to make you feel better about yourself isn't the answer...

Wish you guys would harken back to the wishes and words of MLK Jr. and judge people by the content of their character and not their skin color...

Elevating people to positions of power just because they're black (or female) get's you morons like Sheila Jackson Lee, Frederica Wilson, Hank Johnson, James Cliburn, Jesse Jackson Jr, the list is endless..People that got and have their for jobs only BECAUSE they are black...

You call that "progress", results prove it's stupidity.....

Christopher Swing
Thu, 11/29/2012 - 5:40am

Fluke wanted the insurance she paid into to cover contraception... you just never tire of spreading a good toxic meme, even it's a lie, do you Leo?

Harl Delos
Thu, 11/29/2012 - 7:18am

Anyone want to bet how long it will take before a white male protestant gets put on SCOTUS?

Harl Delos
Thu, 11/29/2012 - 8:55am

Leo, where does that "$10 per month" and birth control "pills" come from?

Depo-Provera isn't a pill.  It's an injection.  It's considerably less likely to kill the user than pills are, because it's a constant seepage of hormones to the blood stream, rather than a heavy jolt once a day.

<a href="http://www.whatthefolly.com/2012/02/23/transcript-sandra-fluke-testifies-on-why-women-should-be-allowed-access-to-contraception-and-reproductive-health-care/">Fluke testified </a> that it could cost $3,000 during law school for contraception.  If you're paying $10 a month, that means that you're spending 25 years in law school.

And insurance companies pay less when a woman is on Depo-Provera than when she gets pregnant.  Prenatal care, delivery, and medical costs related to burth defects cost more than Depo-Provera costs.

By including birth control in that insurance plan, Fluke is trying to lower the insurance costs that the students themselves are wholly responsible for.

This whole Fluke controversy reminds me of the Hunt brother who reportedly said at a cocktail partty, "Well, ma'am, it wasn't a billion dollars, it was only $300 million, and ir wasn't a profit, it was a loss, and it wasn't a long position, it was going short, and it wasn't sow bellies, it was sugar, andit wasn't the spot market, it was the futures market, and it waasn't me, it was my brother, but other than those minor little details, I'd say you had your story down about perfect."

Andrew J.
Thu, 11/29/2012 - 10:12am

Guess what you are saying is there are no Republican women and minorities of character and the ones you do have the GOP could try to elevate would be nothing but morons. So what kind of women and minorities have you attracted to the GOP and does the leadership recognize the women and minority dolts they have in their midst?

I prefer to believe there are women and minorities of character in the GOP. It's just that the white boys club can't see it. And you remain surprised chunks of the electorate find your party openly hostile to them?

AJ

tim zank
Thu, 11/29/2012 - 10:42am

No AJ, my point is liberals/progressives/socialists/communists (whatever the hell you call yourselves now) will always elevate people of dubious mentality that are of color or minority staus for the sole purpose of acquiring votes and assuaging misinterpreted guilt...

You'd rather have someone that is as dumb as a box of rocks in a position of power because they are a minority than someone that can actually perform the duties of the job. The result is obviously mediocrity on a grand scale but it allows liberals to entice and win over even more recipient voters and as a bonus it allows you to pat each other on the back while sipping white wine and convincing yourselves you are the "good" white people....

Andrew J.
Thu, 11/29/2012 - 11:32am

No Tim, I was saying the Republicans had an opportunity to elevate women and minorities to chairmanship positions, those not of "dubious quality," but instead opted not to. And if you disagree with the fact that the GOP didn't opt not to, then the answer must be you have no quality women or minorities in your party for such positions. Either way, not something to be proud of.

AJ

tim zank
Thu, 11/29/2012 - 1:14pm

AJ, it quite simply boils down to this, YOU (and all liberals) think it's necessary to pick people for positions in any group based on their color and gender and I (and all conservatives) don't.

We (conservatives) believe what Martin Luther King Jr. espoused, people should be judged on the content of their character, not the color o their skin.

As to Time nominating Fluke for Person Of The Year, maybe they should have considered the 15 year old girl shot by the Taliban for advocating simply the right of women to obtain an education instead a fame seeking 30 year old leech whining about a womens "right" to worry free fornication...

You want to see a war on women look across the pond not at some upper class American student in Grad school that doesn't want to shell out for her own rubbers or pills....

 

 

 

Andrew J.
Thu, 11/29/2012 - 1:31pm

YOu made my point Tim. By judging not by color but solely by the content of their character, the GOP leadership found only white guys having good character. Not one woman; not one black for 19 spots. U can't explain that away by saying your are color and gender-blind and then not be able to find even ONE woman or minority worthy of such stature.

Maybe the Romney binder full of qualified women should have been consulted.

 

Harl Delos
Thu, 11/29/2012 - 2:12pm

I was Time's man of the year once, and am about two feet from another who got the honor another year.

I find Tim's notion that there are people of greater and lesser quality highly offensive. I'm sure there are Down Syndrome syndrome people I'd rather spend time with  than Tim, but that's not much of a put-down; Downs tend to be extremely honest, kind, and interesting people.

MOTY, though, isn't about "quality", it's about newsworthiness.  Hitler was a man of the year, as was Fidel Castro, and it wasn't because they were anyone you would want to emulate, or even break bread with.

Seems to me that the weather has been the biggest news-maker this year.  Not sure if there's really any entity that forecasts the weather globally, though.

 

littlejohn
Thu, 11/29/2012 - 3:28pm

Tim, your suggestion that Republicans don't consider color, only ability reminds me of Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, an affirmative action pick if there ever was one. And, BTW, our least impressive justice. He sits silently and simply copies Scalia's vote. It's a shame he probably won't retire while there's a Democratic president.

tim zank
Thu, 11/29/2012 - 5:40pm

Harl, are we to assume your being Time's "Man of The Year" was another obtuse reference of yours being in one of the groups?

 

I don't see your name listed..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_Person_of_the_Year

littlejohn
Thu, 11/29/2012 - 6:16pm

Tim, the 2006 Person of the Year was a mirror on the cover of the magazine. I shouldn't have to explain this to you, but obviously anyone who looked at the magazine could claim to be the Man of the Year.

But wait a minute. If you didn't see yourself, it means you're a vampire. Please drive a stake into your heart as soon as possible.

Harl Delos
Fri, 11/30/2012 - 7:33am

Actually, I understated it.  In the room as I postd it were 1966, 1969, 1972, 1975, 1982, 2006, and 2011

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