Author: VD

Simmons vs. Wiley. Simmons is quicker and more verbose, Wiley has the benefit of actually knowing what he’s talking about. But the edge goes to the Sports Guy, not because the Sports Guy’s encyclopedic knowledge of all things Hollywood gives him what Wily admits is a leg up, but because Wiley’s ability to rip in good humor can’t keep up with Simmons.

“Thanks for the nice words, although I think Mahorn is crazy with jealously right now.” Good times, good times.

Tonya’s spousal unit writes: I vote NO on the Vox picture thing. We already know that he can lift a bus with his pinky and leap tall buildings, etc. We already know that there are no super-models left that have not been notched on his bedpost…(prior to meeting SpaceBunny of course)… and that he can fold space with his awe-inspiring intellect.

That’s space-time, do try to get the details straight. As for the rest, the reason there are no other pictures of me is that special cameras are required, along with a particle accelerator. I’m not a vampire per se, but as I have not emerged from my lair for lo, these many years now, I have apparently evolved the ability to blend seamlessly into the background.

It’s a theory, anyhow. It might just be that my snowy complexion merges insensibly with the white walls, I’m not sure. What kind of doctor do you consult when your image begins mirror-fading?

There’s been a lot of talk about Kerry’s daughter’s dress and the enthusiastic response to Michael Moore’s new film. I have no doubt that the film is another dishonest piece of propaganda, but it’s a clever title, anyhow. But honestly, the only thing that really registered with me was the supersizing of the filmmaker himself. Holy Stay-Puf Marshmallow Man! Are they remaking Ghostbusters?

If I was an interviewer, I’d be careful to stay a good ten feet away from him at all times. Probably best to keep a pizza or three in between you and the insatiable maw too, just to be safe.

AL writes: I don’t get it. Maybe it wasn’t your intention in the article, but it appears that you are saying that there would not be an Abu Ghraib incident if women were not present. Are you saying that? You only brought up the ‘male factor’ in the two to tango reference.I was in the Navy, and I went on two cruises on the USS Boxer (LHD-4) and USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72). I blame the women and the leadership on board for what happened on the Boxer. All of the women were married, and all of them did not want to go to sea. Instead of extending the tour of the pregnant sailors the CO allowed them to transfer to a shore station. So basically he invented a reason to become pregnant. Still the women were not very smart in the long run. Nine months at sea or 18 years isn’t a hard choice if you actually thought about it. I believe that women are a distraction to the men in the military.

Yet I find that if the same rules were in place after the unit became co-ed, some of the current problems would not have occurred. There was just the fear among the higher ranks (US Navy males- CPO and above) that doing and saying the ‘wrong thing’ might end your career, and because of this women now had an upper hand. This is why women at sea is more of a problem than a step towards fairness (I won’t say equality). I became tired of the whining and the favoritism, and the lack of chutzpa from the male ranks.

As for women in combat, I just don’t know. I wouldn’t want to go. Yet I don’t believe that I should never go to combat just because I am a women. I suppose I have a problem with the women should be honored and cherished theory. Underneath that theory I hear a subliminal message taking away my right to think for myself, and limiting my opportunities. It is a long climb down from that pedestal when you have to recapture the rights you abandoned while occupying the throne. I’d prefer to have my feet planted on the ground.

This is a nice example of what I’m talking about when I write that women would do well to stop overanalyzing what men say. If AL is hearing “a subliminal message taking away my right to think for myself” she should either get her ears checked or see an exorcist. That’s ridiculous. And yes, I am saying that if women weren’t at Abu Ghraib, there would have been a signficant reduction in the amount of sexual shenanigans as well as the amateur porn cinematography. The abuse of prisoners? Who knows, but it seems at least possible.

I never wrote anything about women being honored and cherished. My reasoning in yesterday’s column was entirely pragmatic. Furthemore, as I’m a Dragon, not a white knight or a southern gentleman, I have no more problem holding a woman responsible for any initiation of physical force than I do a man.

KO writes: I totally agree with you in terms of the impact of females serving in our armed forces. I serve with them everyday, and have very little positive to report on them. Every unit I have served in contained them, and they just bring down morale. Whether it be physical training where they “lead the way” on our runs, or on daily task, they have a different mentality overall. It isn’t about kicking ass and taking names. They don’t do a whole lot, and when they do, they bitch and moan. They posture in sexual and flirtatious ways, and often enough, it works. They get out of doing details that way.

Males have a harder time telling them what to do, as it’s hard to yell at or scold a female. They also have a strong Equal Opportunity program in place. I have seen females just completely mute high-ranking NCOs by threats of EO complaints. Hitting on your point of pregnancy, they do do it to get out of deployments. In my training company we had to move the females out of our building. They were constantly complaining and threatening eo complaints. Some had merit, but most did not. When they moved out, there was a 50% pregnancy rate. Basically what it boils down to is this; they want the Military to conform to them and their needs.

Even so.

JR writes: I’m a forty year old FEMALE military intelligence and civil affairs officer, and I’ve never slept with ANYONE!! (seeing how I’m still single). But I’ve sure had a number of SENIOR MALE military officers, most of them MARRIED, come on to me! We’re talking 0-4 and above here, so who’s “supervising” them? So should all women in the military resign to protect themselves from the men, or to protect the men from the men’s selves? Let’s not be so smug and self-righteous; plenty of American serviceMEN have raped civilian women in ALL of our wars! Should we castrate them? Maybe we can have an Army of eunuchs!

The essential point of my column seems to have been lost here. I’m not saying that it’s all the women’s fault, only that a lack of discipline is inevitable when men and women are mixed. This is why mixed dorms in colleges tend to be known for more partying than those that aren’t mixed, and why men and women use separate locker rooms at health clubs. The problem will only be solved when either women or men are removed from military service. One guess as to which sex I believe is best suited to do the required killing and breaking things.

Nate has assembled a pictorial menagerie of a few of the blogulars.

GN writes: Vox, your options, unfortunately, aren’t serious ones. This is a case of applying too much cold logic. But you ought to know that that has nothing to do with politics. There is NOTHING in the makeup of Congress, the media, or the American zeitgeist that will permit the Fortress America option. It’s been dismissed as the option of racist kooks, about one step up from secession. Option two is almost as implausible, for much the same reason. Remember, Bush needed a macguffin even to invade Iraq, all that WMD bs. This is not a man who’s been able to pick his targets. He’s taking what he can get. Politics is about choosing between the options that can be realistically executed.

Remember, as Sowell said, politics is the art of the plausible.

This may well be the case. Unfortunately, those are the only two options that I see as being viable. This wouldn’t be the first time that politics got in the way of rational decision-making. This tends to highlight why I am profoundly skeptical of success in Iraq. To paraphrase Eisenhower, doing nothing works better than taking what you can get nine times out of ten. This does not feel like one of those one-tenth time successes.

BAGHDAD, May 17 — The president of the Iraqi Governing Council was killed early Monday in a huge explosion set off by a suicide bomber outside the headquarters of the U.S.-led occupation authority here.

I’m sure we’ll have more statements about how determined we are. I doubt the jihad will be particularly impressed, especially considering how they knocked off the Russian-installed Chechen president a few weeks ago.

Mary Gentle writes: This is why, when I say that there are jokes in Rats and Gargoyles that only three people in the world will understand (and one of them is dead), this is not an apology. This is why, in Left to His Own Devices, the story of what is really going on is written in iambic pentameter and attributed to an Artificial Unconscious versifying as the 16th century playwright Kit Marlowe. You’re not smart enough to keep up? Get over it. Get used to it. Get up off your ass! I don’t care if you have to try hard — try harder.

I like this lady. GOLDEN WITCHBREED was quite good, while I thought GRUNTS was carrying what should have been a short story on too far, but this wonderful manifesto of contemptuous authorial self-justification definitely encourages me to check out her other books.