Women Can Now Serve in Combat Roles*
*If They Want To

I don't know -- seems to be a curious sort of "equality." You're equal only if you volunteer to be.

There are a lot of issues here, and women's rights are just one of them. Another issue is whether humankind's inborn squeamishness about women suffering disfiguring or lethal trauma will cause problems in warfighting or decisionmaking about warfighting.

Of course we're squeamish about men suffering such horrific wounds, too. But one question that's always been open is "Would America be willing to fight any war if women started coming back scarred and maimed?"

Lot of big changes going on, including an end to the special exemption for some units if they said morale or readiness would suffer if they included openly-gay troops.

But at least we know the very best people are managing our military, people to whom the military and its history and its excellence have always been dear, people who themselves have a wealth of military experience themselves.

Socrates* talked up the Reign of the Philsopher Kings three** thousand years ago. Thank goodnesss that exalted age has finally arrived.

* Or Aristotle.

** Or four. Look, I don't know. What do you want from me? Three thousand, four thousand. If you care so much about Socrates, why don't you marry him already?

If you care so darned much, look it up.

That's how you learn things, looking it up. I'm really helping you to learn by not confirming these things myself. Oh, I could do what other people do, and spoonfeed you ever single verified fact.

But I run an Interactive blog. It's my job to make you think -- and also, to make you look up things yourself. I pepper my posts, quite deliberately, with what I call "little mysteries for my readers to solve."

Little mysteries like: Was it Aristotle or Socrates who said that, and further, who cares?

Or: How do you actually spell Sharyl Attkisson? I kind of give you a Multiple Choice test every time the name comes up, giving you four or five versions of the spelling, permitting you, the Engaged Reader, to select the spelling that makes the most sense to you.

Other bloggers don't have that level of respect for their readers. I alone do.

Like Michele Obama said, the age of you just being content to accept things is over. Michele Obama -- and I -- are hear to make you work.

Brave new world, baby. Brave new world.

posted by Ace at 05:58 PM

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