[Aside: NY Times Select may not be around much longer... and then you'll be able to read these yourself! But in the meantime, here's another good op-ed piece:]
A Woman Who's Man Enough
by Maureen Dowd
July 22, 2007
Things are getting confusing out there in Genderville.
We have the ordinarily poker-faced secretary of defense crying over young Americans killed in Iraq.
We have The Washington Post reporting that Hillary Clinton came to the floor of the Senate in a top that put “cleavage on display Wednesday afternoon on C-SPAN2.”
We have Mitt Romney spending $300 for makeup appointments at Hidden Beauty, a mobile men’s grooming spa, before the California debate, even though NBC would surely have powdered his nose for free.
We have Elizabeth Edwards on a tear of being more assertive than her husband. She argued that John Edwards is a better advocate for women than Hillary, explaining that her own experience as a lawyer taught her that “sometimes you feel you have to behave as a man and not talk about women’s issues.”
We have Bill Clinton, who says he’d want to be known as First Laddie, defending his woman by saying, “I don’t think she’s trying to be a man.”
We have The Times reporting that Hillary’s campaign is quizzical about why so many women who are like Hillary — married, high income, professional types — don’t like her. A Times/CBS News poll shows that women view her more favorably than men, but she has a problem with her own demographic and some older women resistant to “a lady president” from the land of women’s lib.
In a huge step forward for her, The Times said that “all of those polled — both women and men — said they thought Mrs. Clinton would be an effective commander in chief.”
So gender isn’t Hillary’s biggest problem. Those who don’t like her said it was because they don’t trust her, or don’t like her values, or think she’s too politically expedient or phony.
There is a dread out there about 28 years of Bush-Clinton rule. But most people are not worried about Hillary’s ability to be strong. Anyone who can cast herself as a feminist icon while leading the attack on her husband’s mistresses, anyone who thinks eight years of presidential pillow talk qualifies her for the presidential pillow, is plenty tough enough to smack around dictators, and other Democrats.
John Edwards and Barack Obama often seem more delicate and concerned with looking pretty than Hillary does. Though the tallest candidate usually has the advantage, Hillary has easily dominated the debates without even wearing towering heels.
When she wrote to Bob Gates asking about the Pentagon’s plans to get out of Iraq, it took eight weeks for an under secretary, Eric Edelman, to send a scalding reply, suggesting that she was abetting enemy propaganda. But Mrs. Clinton hit back with a tart letter to Secretary Gates on Friday and scored something of a victory, since he issued a statement that did not back up his own creep.
Maybe Hillary has had her tear ducts removed. If she acted like a sob sister on the war the way Mr. Gates did, her critics would have a field day.
Even in an era when male politicians can mist up with impunity, it was startling to see the defense chief melt down at a Marine Corps dinner Wednesday night as he talked about writing notes every evening to the families of dead soldiers like Douglas Zembiec, a heroic Marine commander known as “the Lion of Falluja,” who died in Baghdad in May after giving up a Pentagon job to go on a fourth tour of Iraq. “They are not names on a press release or numbers updated on a Web page,” he said. “They are our country’s sons and daughters.”
The dramatic moment was disconcerting, because Mr. Gates, known as a decent guy who was leery of the Bushies’ black-and-white, bullying worldview, has clearly been worn down by his effort to sort out the Iraq debacle. He and Condi, who worked together under Bush I, have been trying to circumvent the vice president to close Gitmo without much success, while the president finds ingenious new ways to allow torture.
Mostly, though, it was moving — a relief to see a top official acknowledge the awful cost of this war. The arrogant Rummy was dismissive. The obtuse W. seems incapable of understanding how inappropriate his sunny spirits are. And the callous Cheney’s robo-aggression continues unabated. (What could be more nerve-racking than the thought of President Cheney, slated to happen for a couple of hours yesterday while Mr. Bush had a colonoscopy? Could it be — a Medal of Freedom for Scooter?)
Mr. Gates captured the sadness we feel about American kids trapped in a desert waiting to be blown up, sent there by men who once refused to go to a warped war themselves.
Showing posts with label Iraq War. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Iraq War. Show all posts
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Sunday, March 04, 2007
More Campolo
The following quote is from a 2005 discussion between Tony Campolo and Shane Claiborne. Michael Lerner's statement grabbed me, because I am one of those liberals who always backpedals a bit to keep everyone happy. But his way is so much more powerful and real, and probably the only way to truly bridge the chasm that grows between us. I am particularly reticent around friends or students who I know to be far more conservative than I am. It's surely time to be more open and honest about where I stand on the issues (in real life rather than just online...)
TC: Michael and I got arrested together. A few years back, Jim Wallis organized this demonstration in opposition to the welfare bill that was passed, and forty of us got arrested. Michael Lerner chose to get arrested with us. Were you there?
SC: No, back then I still thought good Christians didn't go to jail. Now I know better.
TC: So we got arrested, and they put us all on a bus and they took us to the police station. We're all on the bus at the police station for quite a while, because they are processing us one by one. We are all giving testimonies of how this works into our Christian faith. Finally John Engel from a missionary organization called Beyond Borders looks over and says, "Michael how do you feel about all this highly evangelical talk?" Michael says, "Oh, I don't like it when I am with liberals who just compromise everything they believe to make me feel good. I think that the way we are going to have peace and brotherhood is if you go to the core of what you believe, and I go to the core of what I believe. And when we get to the core and live it with true love and true peace, there will be a coming together in spite of our differences." That is a very powerful statement. He did not feel the least offended. What offended him was liberals who try to say there are no differences between us.
A Faithful Response to the War
In his most recent Ethics Daily article, Jim Evans, pastor of Auburn First Baptist Church in Auburn, Alabama, briefly summarizes Tony Campolo's and Michael Lerner's plan for the Iraq war. It's one of the most reasonable I've read in a long time. Among other things, they call for our nation to repent. To many of us, it has been obvious for years that this war was wrong, but it has become increasingly apparent, even to the most staunchly republican among us, that it was based on lies and fabricated, false evidence.
But it's not enough to just point out the mistakes made by us and by our administration. Campolo and Lerner also have a plan to get American troops out of the Middle East with a minimum loss of life, and without making the situation in Iraq even worse: get the Arab League to send in soldiers to police the area while and after we pull out.
Maybe the current talks between us, Iraq, and their regional neighbours will come to the same conclusion. We did make the mess, but staying there to clean it up is not the answer. It just leaves us there as targets. (Thanks to "He Who Obeys SWMBO" (my Dad) for posting a link to the article on his blog).
But it's not enough to just point out the mistakes made by us and by our administration. Campolo and Lerner also have a plan to get American troops out of the Middle East with a minimum loss of life, and without making the situation in Iraq even worse: get the Arab League to send in soldiers to police the area while and after we pull out.
Maybe the current talks between us, Iraq, and their regional neighbours will come to the same conclusion. We did make the mess, but staying there to clean it up is not the answer. It just leaves us there as targets. (Thanks to "He Who Obeys SWMBO" (my Dad) for posting a link to the article on his blog).
Saturday, March 03, 2007
church and classroom
Would the people pushing to keep Alabama schoolchildren from learning about Evolution be pleased to know they're on the same side as Islamic fundamentalist educators in Kuwait? Not about evolution, exactly, but about the need to "protect" religion and "protect" God by keeping those in their care [those they want to control] ignorant of anything that may upset the apple-cart. God is big enough to deal with us using our brains .. the brains s/he gave us, if you buy into that sort of thing ... to their full capacity. And maybe, as Rosemary Pennington quoted South Park's Stan as saying, "Couldn't evolution be the answer to how and not the answer to why?"
In the Klezmatics song "I ain't afraid", they say: "I ain't afraid of your churches, I ain't afraid of your temples, I ain't afraid of your schools, I'm afraid of what you do in the name of your God." By fostering ignorance in our own society, and allowing others to foster (and applaud) ignorance in theirs, we perpetuate fear, we perpetuate danger, and we perpetuate needless death.
In his recent op-ed piece, Thomas Friedman quoted Mamoun Fandy, who put it like this: "Nobody in the Arab world
'has the guts to say that what is happening in Iraq is wrong — that killing schoolkids is wrong,' said Mamoun Fandy, director of the Middle East program at the International Institute for Strategic Studies. 'People somehow think that killing Iraqis is good because it will stick it to the Americans, so Arabs are undermining the American project in Iraq by killing themselves.'”
Friedman was just looking at the situation in Iraq, and at the case of suicide bombers and their exploits. But Americans who applaud anything an American President does, just because he's American and a Christian, or who will blithely accept any behaviour by our administration, because "we're the good guys" are just as bad. There is no time for us to remain stuck in an "us v. them", "rah, rah we're the greatest" high school mentality.
In the Klezmatics song "I ain't afraid", they say: "I ain't afraid of your churches, I ain't afraid of your temples, I ain't afraid of your schools, I'm afraid of what you do in the name of your God." By fostering ignorance in our own society, and allowing others to foster (and applaud) ignorance in theirs, we perpetuate fear, we perpetuate danger, and we perpetuate needless death.
In his recent op-ed piece, Thomas Friedman quoted Mamoun Fandy, who put it like this: "Nobody in the Arab world
'has the guts to say that what is happening in Iraq is wrong — that killing schoolkids is wrong,' said Mamoun Fandy, director of the Middle East program at the International Institute for Strategic Studies. 'People somehow think that killing Iraqis is good because it will stick it to the Americans, so Arabs are undermining the American project in Iraq by killing themselves.'”
Friedman was just looking at the situation in Iraq, and at the case of suicide bombers and their exploits. But Americans who applaud anything an American President does, just because he's American and a Christian, or who will blithely accept any behaviour by our administration, because "we're the good guys" are just as bad. There is no time for us to remain stuck in an "us v. them", "rah, rah we're the greatest" high school mentality.
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Iraq Body Count
According to the Iraq Body Count (http://www.iraqbodycount.org/), as of today, somewhere between 57000 and 63000 Iraqi civilians have died (See logo at the bottom of this blog). This does not count combatants, but it includes civilians affected directly by the fighting (bombs, etc.) as well as those killed because of the increase in rampant violence and lawlessness.
Read my sister's blog for links to humanitarian groups that are helping Iraqi civilians.
Read my sister's blog for links to humanitarian groups that are helping Iraqi civilians.
Saturday, February 17, 2007
Quotes, musings, and tunes
The German exchange student who's been here since August is flying back to Germany tomorrow, so my "wow-I-can-actually-just-speak-German-without-trying-to-figure-out-which-words-she-probably-already-knows" buddy will be gone. **sigh** For her last day in town, we went out to eat at Surin West and then for coffee to Starbucks, and then shopping in a novelty place in Southside, where I found the following on a postcard:
"Naturally, the common people don't want war, but after all it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag people along ... Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. This is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and for exposing the country to danger. It works the same in every country." --- Reich-Marschall Hermann Goering, at the Nuremberg Trials
It is so close to what was said and done in the lead-up to the Iraq war, I thought it couldn't possibly be real. But no, Snopes affirms that Goering indeed uttered these words in a private conversation with Gustave Gilbert on April 18, 1946. And it is sadly utterly true. We were brought to the bidding of our leaders, despite the fact that they were clearly not being truthful: reasons for attacking Iraq changed from week to week, posturing and empty, militaristic rhetoric were the rule of the day, rather than straight-forward honesty. And let's not kid ourselves, they're still lying to cover their butts as well as possible. There were countless voices who very accurately noted that 1) Iraq had nothing whatsoever to do with Al Qaida and the attacks of September 11; 2) Iraq posed no immediate threat to the U.S.; and 3) attacking Iraq would prove to be a huge mess. But what does truth matter, when our honor is on the line? We're Americans, darn it, and as such can do no wrong.
You might write me off as being someone who "doesn't like this country", but that's not true. This is a great country to live in. People are usually friendly and fairly generous. Our school system needs some serious work, as do our priorities as far as taking care of those in need, but we're a country that values the individual and individual effort and creativity, and for the most part gives people the freedom to express themselves (as long as they don't choose to be gay or a commie).
But that belief, that as Americans we can do no wrong, is one of the most dangerous things in this country. We chose to start a preemptive war. Even though we would never accept that behaviour by another country, it's ok for us to do, because "we're good people". The Cute One (aka the One Who Wants To Be Called The Genius) has a great entry concerning this (see her "Shrub & Co." post). We've allowed our leaders to weaken our economy and our civil rights in the name of protecting us, but it's ok, because they're Americans and, like us, are therefore inherently good and can only do good things. They can go ahead and lie to us and bully anyone who doesn't agree with them and cause the deaths of hundreds of thousands, because they are "democratically elected, god-fearing men". [Never mind the fact that we don't worry too much about whether a leader is "democratically elected" when we decide to depose or sanction the killing (Allende in Chile) of those we don't deem pro-America enough --- which means pro-American-business-and-capitalism. But I digress.]
There are very good things about this country, and about the people in this country, and I sure do wish we could get back to some of our better moments. Did you know, that during the Revolutionary War, George Washington charged his officers with treating prisoners of war with kindness and humanity? He said that because they were fighting for an honorable cause they should behave with honor. Imagine that. Many of the Hessian soldiers who had come to America in order to fight with the British as mercenaries were so shocked by their treatment that they ended up staying on after the war. How different things would have been, if we had remembered Washington's behaviour instead of doing our best to justify mistreatment of our prisoners.
Sorry about the rambling, but it's what's been on my mind today. There's nothing wrong with having a certain basic pride about who we are as a country, but we can't let it blind us to the fact that we are not perfect. We also cannot let it blind us to what our leaders are doing in our name, which is decidedly UNamerican.
On that note, a funny William Shatner and Henry Rollins song. It's the background music for someone's kitten video....
Power to the People, peace and comfort to the suffering.
"Naturally, the common people don't want war, but after all it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag people along ... Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. This is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and for exposing the country to danger. It works the same in every country." --- Reich-Marschall Hermann Goering, at the Nuremberg Trials
It is so close to what was said and done in the lead-up to the Iraq war, I thought it couldn't possibly be real. But no, Snopes affirms that Goering indeed uttered these words in a private conversation with Gustave Gilbert on April 18, 1946. And it is sadly utterly true. We were brought to the bidding of our leaders, despite the fact that they were clearly not being truthful: reasons for attacking Iraq changed from week to week, posturing and empty, militaristic rhetoric were the rule of the day, rather than straight-forward honesty. And let's not kid ourselves, they're still lying to cover their butts as well as possible. There were countless voices who very accurately noted that 1) Iraq had nothing whatsoever to do with Al Qaida and the attacks of September 11; 2) Iraq posed no immediate threat to the U.S.; and 3) attacking Iraq would prove to be a huge mess. But what does truth matter, when our honor is on the line? We're Americans, darn it, and as such can do no wrong.
You might write me off as being someone who "doesn't like this country", but that's not true. This is a great country to live in. People are usually friendly and fairly generous. Our school system needs some serious work, as do our priorities as far as taking care of those in need, but we're a country that values the individual and individual effort and creativity, and for the most part gives people the freedom to express themselves (as long as they don't choose to be gay or a commie).
But that belief, that as Americans we can do no wrong, is one of the most dangerous things in this country. We chose to start a preemptive war. Even though we would never accept that behaviour by another country, it's ok for us to do, because "we're good people". The Cute One (aka the One Who Wants To Be Called The Genius) has a great entry concerning this (see her "Shrub & Co." post). We've allowed our leaders to weaken our economy and our civil rights in the name of protecting us, but it's ok, because they're Americans and, like us, are therefore inherently good and can only do good things. They can go ahead and lie to us and bully anyone who doesn't agree with them and cause the deaths of hundreds of thousands, because they are "democratically elected, god-fearing men". [Never mind the fact that we don't worry too much about whether a leader is "democratically elected" when we decide to depose or sanction the killing (Allende in Chile) of those we don't deem pro-America enough --- which means pro-American-business-and-capitalism. But I digress.]
There are very good things about this country, and about the people in this country, and I sure do wish we could get back to some of our better moments. Did you know, that during the Revolutionary War, George Washington charged his officers with treating prisoners of war with kindness and humanity? He said that because they were fighting for an honorable cause they should behave with honor. Imagine that. Many of the Hessian soldiers who had come to America in order to fight with the British as mercenaries were so shocked by their treatment that they ended up staying on after the war. How different things would have been, if we had remembered Washington's behaviour instead of doing our best to justify mistreatment of our prisoners.
Sorry about the rambling, but it's what's been on my mind today. There's nothing wrong with having a certain basic pride about who we are as a country, but we can't let it blind us to the fact that we are not perfect. We also cannot let it blind us to what our leaders are doing in our name, which is decidedly UNamerican.
On that note, a funny William Shatner and Henry Rollins song. It's the background music for someone's kitten video....
Power to the People, peace and comfort to the suffering.
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