Be careful what you wish for.

You might see women in bourkas -- and wouldn't you LIKE that?

But your glee would be short-lived and so, I think, would you.

But are you Muslim? Do you have a full beard? Would you wear a turban? Would you carry a rifle or a belt of explosives? Would you memorize Sura after Sura of the Qu'ran?

Do you like music? Do you dance?

Can you live without western conveniences?

Up against the wall, infidel dog!

Now, as far as I'm concerned, a person who looks to -- or pretends he's looking to -- the Taliban deserves no consideration and no quarter. But the collateral damages would truly suck, so I hope you don't get your wish. Even if you were Just Kidding.

Instead, I'll leave you and manos-the-obamabot-troll and the unspeakable BS and a few others with this lovely, lovely thought: the women are laughing at your taste. They're laughing at you. And if they let you get close enough, they'd probably laugh at THAT.

You do realize that men in the Dar al-Islam are also circumcised...

Jeepers, Jeebery, what a stupid comment you made. Do you hide John Norman books in the bathroom?

As far as I'm concerned, a mandatory "Thou Shalt Not" is just as damaging as a mandatory "Thou Shall."

The important thing, as I see it, is for women to make their own decisions sensibly and by inalienable right, then follow through as carefully as possible.

Whatever those decisions happen to be.

I am sorry for the death of your mother.

You made an agonizingly tough choice, and I hope you come through it well.

Garrison, that was a noble conclusion, rhetorically speaking (it would translate nicely into Latin), but I think it's a bit of an oversimplification.

As I understand it, our military are required to obey all lawful orders. This means that they accept, with their oath, the added burden of evaluating the orders they receive and face the task of rejecting those that would engage them in atrocities.

The pilot, who died some years back, who threatened to fire on troops at My Lai is an example of this obedience. Unfortunately, abu Ghraib shows that others aren't up to this challenge, which can break your career and get you a court-martial if your judgment isn't upheld.

I think that one of the hardest things they do is attempt to come home and reintegrate into society. Looking back, through the lens of the many smaller (?) actions the country has fought during my lifetime, I'm astonished at how well my father reintegrated after WWII.

And there's no Easter Bunny, no Tooth Fairy, and George Washington didn't chop down a cherry tree.

No matter how often you say it, people are going to invoke the "they burned their BRAS" myth because they want it to be so. It's not just convenient, it's psychologically satisfying.

Myths have a way of lasting. In this case, I wish it didn't; it's not nearly as noble as "the shot heard 'round the world."

However, as a myth of revolution, it'll serve.

It has its dark side, as exemplified by half the trolls here. Surprising: you'd think they wouldn't give the early feminists credit for -wearing- bras. Well, myths aren't consistent, and neither are they.

Never mind expensing it, LeCaster. Any Chief Compliance Officer would have major fits. Granted, I'm thinking of U.S. law. But aside from setting a company up for a "hostile work environment" suit, a strip-club as venue is likely to cost considerably more than $100 per person, which is over the limit for entertainment, especially as a regular thing.

The drinks are expensive; it's noisy; and I can't imagine talking business. The one time I was in a strip club (back in Boston in grad school), it wasn't even any fun, except telling about it later on, when everyone howls, including me.

I'd hate to think that the British financial culture is that much less mannerly than the U.S.

What is your point, LeCastor?

There -is- no draft. We have a volunteer army, of which women are a growing (if sometimes harassed)part. Some MOS are still barred to them, however.

Is it that you think that women should register on their eighteenth birthdays as well? If that's your point, I agree with you completely -- much as I dislike the spectacle of my becoming just one more person too old to serve loading the obligation on young people. Rather like the male chickenhawks in the Republican administration.

So, before I can be one of the "ladies" you're challenging, you must say more clearly what the challenge is.

Not true in actual fact, probably. I've been at some of those parties. "Occasional entertainment" is one thing; afterwork jollies is another.

What's written down, however, is something else, and I am in a very conservative firm.