The Seattle Times: Local News: Iraq war claims first woman from Washington state

The Seattle Times: Local News: Iraq war claims first woman from Washington state


Jonathan:
Women are citizens just like men and they deserve the right and privilege of serving in our armed services in any role that they can qualify for following the same guidelines that their male counterparts use for qualification.

Larry(Butch):
It’s about time women risked their lives for the freedoms that they enjoy. By God there are more women in The US than men and only 10% of the force in Iraq! I tell ya its not fair being a man and expected to risk it all while women sit at home and risk nothing.

Juan:
Women are by nature more frail and weaker and shouldn’t be exposed to the rigors and risks involved in combat. While I feel that they are equal in other ways I think that’s a bit unrealistic to think that they would be involved in combat. What would happen in a hand-to-hand situation? Goodness! They could be killed, raped or worse!

Carl:
I don’t want some woman trying to carry my wounded ass out of a combat zone. A 115lb woman just cant do the job a 200 pound man can. Plus they get all emotional and fall apart at the drop of a hat.

The ACLU (rights advocate)
We could sue the military for letting this Marine get killed and putting a woman in harm’s way. “Her rights were violated by a bomb that would have never been there if it wasn’t for George W. Bush.”

Charlotte(Charli):
We have just as much pride and patriotism as men. We deserve the opportunity and honor of serving our country in any way we can. If I can meet the physical and psychological requirements that my male counterparts meet I should be eligible for the job no matter what position it places me in.

Brandi
Well, I just don’t think women should be required to do this. War is a guy thing and there are plenty of jobs here at home where we can make a contribution. We’re just not cut out for those types of things anyway.

Barbara (Bob)
I am a woman… Hear me roar. It should be a sliding scale for men and women. There are certain things men are required to do to qualify that are unrealistic for women. But, we should still be allowed to serve in combat. I can do anything a man can do.

The ACLU (rights obscurer)
We could sue the military for not allowing women to go to combat. Oops! Wait a minute. We already sued them for having the Marine in the wrong place… “It’s OK. We aren’t accountable for anything we do anyway.”


Tony (Me, the author)
One thing I can tell you about women in combat is simple. The ARE already there. The same goes with homosexuals in the armed forces and many other hotly debated military issues. Women have served a vital role in our military almost since it’s inception. Albeit it has not always been on the front lines they have always been there. Supporting, supplying, manufacturing and sadly enough, dieing. As early as The Revolution, so basically before we were a country, women have served.

http://userpages.aug.com/captbarb/femvets.html

Women have stood in the background and worked equally as hard for their freedoms as any man has and in many instances even harder. Come on guys! We didn’t have to protest for the right to vote or to even be counted as “other than property.”

The military has a way of letting things happen smoothly and in due time without a lot of upheaval. You can see evidence of this in the evolution of a woman’s role here in the Iraq war. You cannot admit a woman to The United States Marine Corps and say that women don’t serve in combat. Infantry is always the first job there. If the press and lawyers will stay out of it a natural transition will take place in our military. Her (the military complex) evolution will be slow and methodical as usual but it always seems to work itself out. It saddens me to see the death of any Marine, Sailor, Soldier or Airman but change is always painful. I hope that her family and friends view her as I and most of the rest of the country do. An American Hero who gave it all. An American Hero who gave her all. Simply put. A True American..

How Religion and Politics Can (NOT) Blend

I'm sorry but I think these guys still don't get it. Religion and Law should be based on the same group of principals but the two should never be based on each other. Does that sound contradictory? It really isn't.

We have religious principals that prohibit theft. That arises from a core belief system that supports private property and ownership. In the end laws prohibit the same. If you made a law against theft based on the religious principal you would be entering a dangerously gray area.

That's an easy issue but what about the old sticky one... Abortion. Nearly anyone would say that infanticide is murder, but that's after the live birth. Most secular belief is that taking a human life should be prohibited. So now there is this gray area that concerns when that formation becomes a human and so on and so forth. I think this debate should be constrained to arguments that do NOT concern religion. Arguing it based on secular principals would be a much more legally stable platform.

What the religious right(usually wrong) don't get is that the more they involve their religion in politics the more politics is going to get involved in their religion. The zealots need to learn to live their lives the way they choose and feel free to instruct their children to do the same but they need to leave the law alone. Religion should be a choice and not a mandate.

Just remember as you see your religious freedoms swirling down the drain that it is you who invite the plumber to fix the pipes.

How Religion and Politics Can Blend - Yahoo! News: "Even a corner-of-the-eye glance at US politics this past year and the conclusion is obvious: Religion has played a polarizing role.
Abortion, stem-cell research, the war in Iraq, gay marriage, prayer in schools were and still are just some of the 2004 election campaign issues that brought out religious voices. Church activists played leading roles in making sure bans on same-sex marriages passed in 13 states. A Candidate's attendance or non-attendance at church in some cases became an issue. Even driving an SUV became a question to ask - 'What would Jesus drive?' - for left-leaning churches."

The ACLU should change its name

The ACLU has to be the most blatantly anti-Amercan group on the planet. Two weeks ago they were bashing the US for kicking a Muslim holy book but this week they want you to think it's OK to desecrate our flag. WTF... Over! I have never seen such blatant stupidity in all my life. Anything, and I do mean ANYTHING that is patriotic, American, Christian or white is fair game but if it's an anti-American group, movement or concept it should be protected and all it's sentimentalities should be revered by all. I am issuing a challenge. Someone please explain why the Koran should be revered but not the flag of the United States or the Christian Bible.

Vote on flag desecration may be 'cliffhanger' - Yahoo! News: "The Senate may be within one or two votes of passing a constitutional amendment to ban desecration of the U.S. flag, clearing the way for ratification by the states, a key opponent of the measure said Tuesday.
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'It's scary close,' said Terri Schroeder of the American Civil Liberties Union, which opposes the amendment. 'People think it's something that's never going to happen. ... The reality is we're very close to losing this battle.'"

Go! Go! Dean

I read two interesting articles today on the net. Both leave me totally confused about the mind set of the Democratic Party. It’s like they keep sticking their hand in boiling water, they see it hurts, so in order to fix it they stick it in to the elbow next time and bang! Then they go ahead and dive the rest of the way in.

After the Dems lost the election to W the first time they stepped back and said, “You know, if the American people knew what we were all about they would elect us.” So they got the word out and shifted a little further to the left and it really turned the voters off so in the midterm election they lost a few more seats in congress.

Along comes Nancy Pelosi and she says to them that they are not left enough so they go further from the center. That costs them another Whitehouse bid and a few more seats on the hill.

Understand that this is a critique of the Dems and not a defense of Republicans or conservatives in general. They just don’t get it. Dems are so out of touch with the average American that they just sound, feel and taste totally out of reasonable bounds. Now to prove that they still believe that the “just need to get the word out,” they have placed the most left oddball on the planet in their leadership position at the DNC. Howard Dean. Dean has the nerve to suggest racial and religious factionalism when he is from the most racist state in the US. He has no hint of an idea what integration is all about. All across the south Black men and women are prospering at a constantly accelerating rate by far out striding their northern and western contemporaries.

Then Dean opens his mouth and just embarrasses his entire party with his far-far-left rhetoric. The only thing I can think of is that the Dems hired him so that he could let the nation see how ridiculously left they could be in order to fire him and look like they are gonna try to center up a bit.

After hiring Dean as DNC boss they go on a hunt for the anti-Arnold candidate in California to try to defeat Schwarzenegger. Arnold is hugely popular. Why not look for someone with some of the same qualities who is more to their political liking. No! They are going to stand up and as the elitists that they are they are going to tell you what you should think, should feel and by god who you should be more like.

All I can say to the Dems is, “Go, Go Dean!” Keep up that rhetoric and keep telling people that you know better for them what they should think and you loose a dozen more seats in this next election and your party will be relegated to history.

Zimbabwe's president denies he's dead - Africa - MSNBC.com

I'm sorry but there is just a great deal of humor here. I love hearing good news for a change. For once we are hearing the someone is NOT dead.

Zimbabwe's president denies he's dead - Africa - MSNBC.com: "�I told the president that he is reportedly dead from last week as a result of heart failure. He laughed and said: �When did I die and where?�� the paper quoted Mugabe�s spokesman George Charamba as saying."

When will China answer for Tiananmen massacre? - Yahoo! News

When will China answer for Tiananmen massacre? - Yahoo! News: "Time naturally erodes indignation. But now, more than ever, China's communist leaders need pushing to disclose what happened. No country that keeps such tight political control can be a trusted member of the international community. "

This is a big call here. We in the US want China to own up to it’s massacres but we still haven’t explained why we murdered millions of Native Americans here. We still haven’t explained why we murdered David Koresh’s followers, including their children. Maybe we should cast the beam from our own eye before we offer to remove the mote from our brother’s.

Deep Throat' is more hero than villain - Says the Press

On balance, 'Deep Throat' is more hero than villain - Yahoo! News: "Felt revered the FBI and despised the White House for manipulating the agency politically. Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward wrote Thursday that Felt 'thought the Nixon team were Nazis' and feared for the country's future."

It is amazing to me how what Felts did can possibly make him a hero. He knew of “High Crimes and Misdemeanors” committed by the president and he did nothing accept leak it to the press. I am willing to bet that that is a felony. The obvious reason to most of us is that he was passed over by Nixon for the #1 job in the FBI and he was getting even. While Nixon was a slimy character at best the truth is the secret tapes and such were going on before Nixon was caught. I am NOT saying it was OK for Nixon to do it. Just that the FBI knew when Johnson was doing it too.

You will never hear the truth here from the press in this country because Watergate was their finest moment. It is when the press in the US deposed a president. They love it, love the power and thank goodness they will never have that power again. There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that this guy should be brought up on charges for what he did. The information he leaked was clearly classified. If he wanted to do something he should have had Nixon investigated.

The one thing I will have to give Felts credit for is that he did steal Woodward’s thunder by revealing the story. I’m sure Woodward was salivating over the day that Felts died so he could do some more grandstanding. Woodward is a has been and so is Felts. Good riddance to them both. Sour grapes are never a good reason to commit felonies and then enrich yourself.

Tonyh

Go NASCAR

I'd like to second this writers commentary on NASCAR. Although I don't understand why it would be "corney or redneckish" to display your patriotism. The left has really done a number on this country when a man or woman feels the have to be embarrassed by their respect and love of their country.

tonyh

Yahoo! Sports - NASCAR - Trading Paint: Jumping on Junior: "I watched the race this weekend on TV as I usually do. Every weekend no matter if it is a holiday or not, they televise the invocation, National Anthem and any other special honors, such as they did with Taps this weekend for Memorial Day. Is there any special reason that NASCAR does this and not any of the other televised sports? Being prior military and married to an active duty serviceman, honestly, it is one of the reasons I am such a big fan of NASCAR and as happy to watch it on TV as watching it live. I think it's awesome that NASCAR supports the troops as visually as they do. I'm just wondering if there was any special reason other than their love of this country.

Rebecca Sherman
Edwards AFB, Calif.

I have to give credit to NASCAR for the things you mention, Rebecca. It helps give fans some patriotic spirit. Plus, with NASCAR's heavy involvement with the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and National Guard as sponsors � and the fact so many of our enlisted men and women also are NASCAR fans � it's a no-brainer to show support to those who are protecting our liberties. The NFL, Major League Baseball, NBA and NHL � even the PGA � could take a few lessons from NASCAR's patriotism. It may seem kind of corny or redneck-ish, but I'll take that any day. "

Hooray! for France? Did I say that?

Dutch Voters Reject EU Constitution - Yahoo! News: "AMSTERDAM, Netherlands - Dutch voters overwhelmingly rejected the European Union constitution Wednesday, delivering what could be a knockout blow for the charter roundly defeated just days ago by France. "

You rarely see me say anything positive about France. Their recent history has been pretty shady in my opinion. Americans are always quick to point out that, "they'd be speaking German if it wasn't for us." But we seem to forget that we may very well still be an English colony without the help of France. I do have to tip my hat to the French and Dutch for their rejection of this EU constitution. I think it bodes well for the US down the road as well.

Just as soon as an EU constitution is ratified the UN will be after a worldwide version of the same. In the US that would mean subjugating our constitutional principles to that of the rest of the world. I just don’t see how that can help us out in any way. The rest of the world needs to stay out of the business of governing the US.

Recently a Supreme Court justice referenced world opinion in one of his rulings. That sent a chill up my spine. Imagine what would happen to the Bill of Rights if it had to be interpreted in light of world opinion. Sovereign countries need to govern themselves. The rest of the world kind of needs to stay out of it.

Good job France! Good job Netherlands!

Tonyh

The Face of God

Hubble & Spitzer Space Telescopes on Yahoo! News Photos

This is absolutely amazing!

This false-color image taken by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope and released May 31, 2005 shows the 'South Pillar' region of the Carina Nebula.