Tag: Women

Women in the Military – God Help Us

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I saw two stories today about the military and both of them were associated in one way or another with women and DEI.

The first one has to do with Defense Secretary Hegseth’s orders to force women to pass the same physical fitness tests as men for combat and other physically challenging roles.

You would think this should already be in place since women claim not to be inferior to men in any way.  But reality rears its ugly head and now this will essentially eliminate 99.9% of female candidates from the special forces organizations and a very large chunk of women from even basic combat roles.

This is one of the first things I see happening in the Trump administration that I can point to as a clear improvement on the status quo.  Ever since Obama the military has been woke and women in command positions has been a big part of the problem.  Hopefully now a lot of combat officer positions will be restricted to men and that should have a very positive effect on our combat capability.  Now if there are women who are physically capable of pulling their own weight in combat circumstances, I don’t necessarily think they should be in combat roles.  There are other problems with mixing women and men in close physical quarters.  But at the very least eliminating women who aren’t strong enough to fight from the equation is a big plus.

The second story is a NY Times article about the investigation of the crash of the Black Hawk helicopter and the civilian airliner near Ronald Reagan airport.

https://www.timesnownews.com/world/us/us-news/black-hawk-pilot-rebecca-lobach-ignored-key-instruction-before-dc-crashreportclaims-article-151511950

The first item is that the pilot was a woman who was performing a periodic training flight to maintain her flight status.  The article says she had 500 hours of flying experience at that time.  But the most disturbing aspect of the article was the statement that the control tower had warned her of the collision danger and her trainer told her to change course to the left to avoid the collision and she did not.  She had fifteen seconds to change course and she did not.  In addition, the female pilot had some linkage to the Biden White House.  I didn’t see any details about what her role was.  But that immediately raised a red flag in my mind.

So, it’s very easy for me to immediately take these details and say that this disaster was caused by DEI.  Is that fair?  I don’t know, but as a first approximation I think it’s a reasonable starting hypothesis.  If even the NY Times is throwing this woman under the bus, then who am I not to cast the second stone?  And this goes hand in hand with a number of stories I’ve read of women in the military whose aircraft and naval vessel piloting have been less than adequate.  When I think of Camera Girl behind the wheel of her car and all the times I’ve told her to go left and she’s gone right (or other-left as she calls it) I get the sense that DEI can be a recipe for disaster.

Well, anyway, Pete Hegseth, keep going the way you are.  Put women back in the kitchen and the nursery and everyone will be that much safer and happier.

Update:

Here’s another more detailed article about the female helicopter pilot.

Don’t You Let Them Clarence, Don’t You Let Them!

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Men and women are fundamentally different.  We interact with the world and each other in different ways.  We have different takes on almost everything.  Probably God will have to provide two different versions of heaven; one for men and one for women.  But the confusing aspect is how men and women (for example a husband and wife) will get to see each other in the afterlife.  Will we be separated for eternity?  That seems odd.  And yet neither group would think it was in heaven if heaven corresponded to what the opposite sex imagined for heaven.

For instance, for Camera Girl, heaven would be the place where I would constantly admit that she had been right about some piece of advice or other.  And for me heaven would be that place where she anticipated all of my requests ahead of time and sandwiches and coffee were endlessly available.  And she never questioned my infallible judgement.

It’s a seeming paradox.

But on reflection I remember that God is male so I have to assume that in the afterlife women will be given the grace to recognize that they’ve been wrong all along and now feel celestial joy in finally appreciating the truth and gratitude toward men for putting up with their illogical thinking all of these millennia.

There is an old movie with William Powell called “Life with Father.”  It takes place in 1880s New York City and Powell is Clarnece Day Senior, a prosperous stock broker and the patriarch of a family of four sons.  His wife Vinny is a cheerful, well-meaning woman whose lack of financial ability drives Clarence to distraction whenever he tries to keep control over the household budget.

Toward the end of the movie, Clarence is attempting to explain women to his son Clarence Junior who is eighteen.  He says, “Clarence understanding women is very difficult.  They think …  No, I’m wrong already.  They don’t think at all.  What they do is get stirred up!  And they get stirred up about almost anything.  But don’t you let them try to confuse you.  Don’t you let them.”

And Clarence Day Senior was entirely correct.  They get stirred up.  And when they do logic and normalcy go out the window.  Of course, in 1880 women were forty years away from getting the vote and the possibility of good governance and sanity were still a possibility.

I often think about who these male morons were who voluntarily voted for women to get the franchise.  Exactly how stupid must they have been?  I assume they were communists of one stripe or another.  But even communists couldn’t have wanted the chaos and confusion that female voting would surely bring.  But here we are.

Being an optimist, I still look forward to the day when an amendment to reverse women’s suffrage passes.  After all it goes hand in hand with the amendment for reversing prohibition.  That was after people saw how much damage it had done and the damage done by prohibition pales in comparison to what women voting has done.  Think of all the awful candidates, almost exclusively Democrats have been elected because women got stirred up.  Women voting was almost responsible for electing Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris to the presidency.  And surely even women can see how disastrous those administrations would have been.

But as optimistic as I am I fear it will take some really catastrophic result of woman voting to convince them to voluntarily give up the vote.  So, it is a somber optimism.  But that’s the way of the world.  We must be patient.

Bring Back the American Mom

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Today was the last family party of the Christmas holiday season.  The kids go back to school on Monday and everybody else starts their diets to scrape away all the fat we’ve absorbed since Thanksgiving.  And it has been a fun season.  What with the Trump election win and the gob-smacked silence of the leftist crazies there has been a veritable aura of peace and calm.  Well, relatively speaking anyway.  After all you can’t eliminate terrorist attacks and brutal war news completely.  But all in all, the last month and a half has been pretty nice.

So, two weeks from Tuesday Donald Trump will be sworn in.  As is his way, his every word and deed will stir up a hornet’s nest of outrage in the establishment media and political communities.  He will be fought tooth and nail every step of the way in courts, in Congress and in the agencies, he is attempting to reform or destroy.

Well, that will be a long story.  The coming months will tell us if he can make any headway in ending illegal immigration through deportations and border security.  And his other reform goals will take just as long to implement.

But tonight, I was just trying to put into perspective where our society is and where it has to go if we’re to last as a nation.  And I would say the most unsettling problem is the current baby drought.  Specifically native-born American women are not having children at replacement rates.  Now, why is that?  Currently the blame game ping pongs back and forth between blaming young men and young women.  But I would say the true culprit is the culture that has enabled a world view by young people that includes the following “facts”:

  • Women are better off in careers than as mothers.
  • Employers should prefer hiring women rather than men, especially white men.
  • There are too many people on planet Earth.
  • Bringing children into this world is a crime.
  • A middle-class lifestyle that allows for the raising of children is no longer within the reach of young adults.

Looking at all these statements I see a dystopian version of the world.  The only statement there that has any basis in fact is the last one and that situation needs to be rectified by our government if they hope to prevent this country from disintegrating into a sad, hollowed-out vestige of the dynamic, prosperous place it was a century ago.

To do this, each of those “facts” needs to be refuted and policies enacted to reverse the opinions and their effects that are currently laying waste to our society at all levels.

The first change needed is to convince young women that getting married and staying home to raise a large family is the most valuable and meaningful “career” they can have.  This is the key change that makes restoration of our society possible.  And the only way these young women can be convinced is for the government to put in place policies that subsidize couples forming and sustaining families.  Specifically, the policies should specify that men must remain employed and women must remain at home during the childhood years of their children.  Ideally these mothers should stay home until their children move out at eighteen years of age.  After that, mothers moving into the workforce shouldn’t be too detrimental to family life.  Although I wouldn’t force them to go.

Now this idea is anathema to modern feminist views.  That isn’t surprising since feminism is anathema to family life.  But it is absolutely vital to maintaining the health of the nation that women be convinced to resume their place in the home; not as part-time mothers of latch-key children but as moms.

Don’t Let Them See You Sweat

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There are all kinds of men in this world.  They vary in temperament, intelligence, philosophy, habits, health and any number of other traits.  And likewise with women.  They come in infinite variety.  Most notably of late is their level of allegiance to the feminist project.  So, they run the gamut from strident man-hating lesbians and cat ladies all the way to the maternal heroine of the Victorian novel who lives to help her children and dotes on her husband.

But one thing I’ve noticed about all women.  When the bottom drops out of the world and the Huns are at the gate even the most misandric harpy that ever railed against the patriarchy runs around in circles screaming for the cavalry to arrive.  And just to be specific they expect the cavalry to be steeped in testosterone and bearing Y-chromosomes.

The best example of this that I can remember was directly after September 11th 2001.  Maureen Dowd was and is a journalist for the New York Times and she has spent decades banging the drum for feminist complaints about men.  Her contempt for men in general and conservatives in particular was limitless.  But then the Towers were knocked down in September and suddenly policemen, firemen and soldiers were the heroes she wanted to write about.  Suddenly she realized that the only thing standing between her and the primitive world that is held in check by modernity is a man with a gun.  Of course, eventually she calmed down and realized that men with guns tend not to be feminists.  And she returned to her default contempt.  But for as long as she was scared, she wanted to be comforted by the knowledge that the patriarchy was keeping her safe.

And that impulse to look to the man with a gun is programmed into her DNA.  She won’t admit it because it makes her seem like someone who can’t push aside sex-linked traits as if they were just “social constructs.”  And it’s more than just protection from the Hun.  Whatever the catastrophe, when the bottom drops out a woman looks to her man to make things whole again.  And that’s all women.  The good ones are grateful.  The dishonest ones pretend they could have done it on their own.  They may even pretend they did.

But when Armageddon arrives, and you’re busy trying to figure out how to save the day, it’s good to remember that the women folk often need some kind of sign from you that you can save the day.  And here the female psyche should be taken into consideration.  Because even if there’s nothing that you can think of to do the best strategy is to appear to be doing something constructive.  I am convinced that a fretful woman who sees her man engaged in physical activity with tools of whatever kind; mechanical, diagnostic or even just a wheelbarrow will take solace from the idea that he is taking the lead and solving the problem.  And it doesn’t hurt if he assigns her some role to play in the “brilliant plan” that he is already putting into motion.

Camera Girl, even Camera Girl is not immune from this behavior.  She that has shared my life for almost half a century; knows me right down to my toes.  And she knows just how lazy and lethargic I am by nature.  But when I can see that something serious has scared her, then I know it’s time for me to do my best Superman impression and let her know that I have a way to make everything whole again.  Of course, most times I don’t and maybe I’m kind of scared myself.  But admitting that is a big mistake.  Morale is a very important part of life and if you let the family morale crack, things get even tougher.

So that’s my insight.  I recently saw an example of this that reminded me of this dynamic.  I thought it might be useful information for others.

Guest Contributor – Chemist – 07MAR2024 – International Women’s Day

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Friday is International Women’s Day.

My company has asked us all to:
1) Be Inclusive.
2) Wear Purple. (Apparently the color of IWD. It is said to signify justice, dignity and honor.)
3) Write appreciation cards to our female coworkers.
4) Post “Heart hands pictures”

Now, I am all for recognizing people who do good work, but why limit it to women?
In fact, point three seems to be in direct conflict with point one above.

As for point 4, I am not a teenaged girl.

Update

(Editorial Comment)

Chemist, thank you bringing this important cultural occasion to our attention.  But some of these suggestions are problematic.  Purple is a problem for me.  Since I’m never sure if something is purple or blue I just call it “other blue.”  So maybe they can allow me to wear blue?  Of course sometimes something that looks red to me turns out to be purple which is why I sometimes call it “other red”  Would it be alright if I could also wear red?

I don’t think I should write appreciation cards to women.  I don’t think Camera Girl would like that very much.  Also I’m afraid if I got too specific about what I appreciate about them it could be taken the wrong way.  In fact I’m pretty sure there wouldn’t be a right way to take it.

As far as being inclusive can I include men in the International Women’s Day?  I’d like to appreciate Charlton Heston and Dwight D Eisenhower.  I don’t think either of them get enough appreciation for their understated efforts.  Heston’s work in Planet of the Apes and Soylent Green is somewhat underrated.  And Eisenhower did get things going on the whole interstate highway thing which I really appreciate when I cross state lines.  So can I include these two men?

Ah, heart hands!  You really shouldn’t miss out on that.  That really looks like fun.

So let’s all try to embrace International Women’s Day.  Although be careful embracing women.  I know Camera Girl frowns on me embracing many women either international or domestic.  She’s made this very clear.

Guest Contributor – War Pig – 19NOV2023 – Female Empowerment the Old Fashioned Way

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My late wife never voted. She said they were all corrupt and voting was about the same as choosing which buzzard is going to dine on your carcass.

She did her politics through volunteerism. At the local hospital, making cookies for on-duty deputies, firefighters and EMT/rescue crews. Her oatmeal raisin cookies were notorious. She plumped the raisins in red or white wine depending on which raisin she used. She cooked and served at the local soup kitchen. I often donated venison as I always filled my limit. It served more than soup but my wife’s ham and mixed bean soup was always a big hit. And her cornbread (scratch, not a mix) was beloved by southern transplants. She got me to go down around Mardi Gras and make jambalaya, shrimp etoufee, gumbo, and red beans and rice.

A Splendid Mother’s Day Post

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Kudos to Menagerie over at Conservative Treehouse for a truly great post on motherhood.  Just reading it I decided I better be nicer to Camera Girl today  Happy Mother’s Day to all the real moms out there.  You deserve it.

 

“Motherhood. Contrary to ridiculous claims otherwise, it starts with being a woman. Which starts with XX chromosomes and can never be changed.

It didn’t take God long at all in his creation process to get to the male, female, mother, and father part. I can see nothing confusing in his words. “