Letters to the Editor
LT Bohica
Published Letters: 284 Editor's Choice: 4
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An Emily's List milestone
[Read the article: Rep. Jackie Speier comes out swinging]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Representative Speier is the 70th pro-choice democratic woman Emily's List has helped gain office in the House.
23 years ago when Emily's list began, there were only 23 congresswomen. While I certainly wish the percentage of women serving was much higher than it is, Representative Speier's election is a milestone.
Now if only her Democratic peers would put impeachment back on the table and stop funding this illegal war.
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Equality in the ranks is equality in society
[Read the article: Looking for a few good women]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Not being able to serve in designated combat billets was exhibit A of fundamental female inferiority while I was a midshipman at Annapolis and an officer on active duty. Never mind that the vast majority of men serving in the armed forces aren't in combat billets either.
Former midshipman, marine lieutenant, and Secretary of the Navy turned Senator James Webb used the combat exclusion to rail against female midshipmen in print. Webb's article was slipped under my door routinely and publicly quoted by male midshipmen in leadership class. Their argument was the academy existed to produce warriors and if women couldn't be warriors, we had no place at the academy.
(Note: Annapolis commissions Marine officers as well as Navy and a quick google can yield up the Webb article which is scathing in its woman hating.)
I always thought the combat restrictions were arbitrary b.s. put in place to keep women down. Women who passed the physical requirements for a job should be allowed to have it -- be it infantry or SEALS. Many women won't be able to hang, but then again many men don't have what it takes either.
While I was active duty, the restrictions were partially lifted and previously excluded billets were opened to women. From jets to surface warfare. Nothing horrible happened and women continue to excel. Infantry, SpecWar, Submarines, and other jobs remained inexplicably off limits.
I am in favor of more female marines, sailors, airmen, and soldiers. The quicker women are no longer a minority, the quicker conditions will improve. I firmly believe that women will never have equal pay and equal treatment until we are half of the military, lawyers, judges, police, and elected officials in this country.
On the upside, military service creates feminists. If you didn't realize sexism and misogyny were out there, a few weeks in uniform wises you up fast.
PS -- Mids had their own special slurs for females like the BAM mentioned above. One of our uniforms was Working Uniform Blue Alpha (WUBA) which was transformed into Woman Used By All or Woman with Unusually Big Ass. If you were female and on the crew team, CreWBA.
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Mattering
[Read the article: Attention, pundits. It ain't over]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I identify with those millions of voters left to cast ballots.
Here in Texas, I felt relevant for the first time in a presidential primary.
Everyone should have their say. Onward to Puerto Rico.
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August
[Read the article: Night lands Clinton closer to oblivion]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Pundits have been straining to push Senator Clinton out the door for months. And yet she continues to disappoint them.
I see her standing strong until August. Any student of history knows strange things happen at party conventions and there are months and months left in this process. Things are too close to justify Senator Clinton meekly rolling over now no matter how many talking heads demand it.
And oblivion? I doubt Senator Clinton will ever be "forgotten or unknown."
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The convention floor
[Read the article: She's still in it to win it]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Clinton needs to stay in until the convention. She owes her supporters that much at least.
The stronger her hand, the more likely her heath care plan will prevail to become platform.
I am so tired of the media dismissing her. Their derision makes me send her more money. They've been trying to force her out since Iowa.
So much has been made of a potential African American revolt if Obama is not the nominee, but what about the millions of women who have backed Clinton? I feel like my vote and the votes of other women like me are being taken for granted and that is not wise.
Folks presume the fear of Roe v. Wade being overturned will keep women in the fold, but if I was a gambler I wouldn't put money on it at this point.
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Sorry 08YesWeCan...
[Read the article: She's still in it to win it]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]...but I do not cotton to your shallow use of the descriptors macho and feminist in your reply to me. I have seen your postings in other message threads and have found them insulting and illogical. So don't waste your time attempting to convert me.
Senator Obama has not stood up once to the blatant misogyny of the press this primary and that has had a huge impact with me and my female colleagues/family. All he needed to do was acknowledge it existed and deplore it. If he had, I would have a much more positive view of his support for women. But he has remained silent. Deliberately so and that is not lost on the women who support Senator Clinton.
Further, when a man's wife says he does not pick up his dirty socks, he has pretty much lost all feminist street cred with me. Division of household labor is a huge indicator.
When will the importance of the female vote be acknowledged? How dare we be taken for granted?