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February 10, 2012
Lisa M. Krieger: Man with defibrillator demands access to his own heart's information
David G. Savage: Why activists may not be in a hurry to have High Court rule on alternative marriage
February 9, 2012
Laura McMullen: 10 Least Expensive Public Schools for Out-of-State Students
Kimberly Palmer: How to actually enjoy -- relaxing, financially -- your vacation
February 8, 2012
Warren Richey: Why momentous Prop. 8 ruling might not satisfy gay-rights groups
Menachem Wecker: Though Controversial, LL.M.'s Can Lead to Specialized Legal Jobs
The Kosher Gourmet byDana Velden: Going to the bother of making soup? You know it better be good. This CREAM OF TOMATO SOUP certainly is! And it's a cinch to make, too (Includes techinques and serving secrets)
February 7, 2012
Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Caught off-guard? President's Super Bowl interview with Matt Lauer gives those who need a reason not to vote for him, a darn good one
Suzanne Bohan: Leaping lizards! Tiny reptiles advancing robot design
February 6, 2012
Jonathan Tobin: Iran Threatens Israel With Destruction, But the New York Times Doesn't Hear It
Jeffrey Fleishman: In newly democratic Egypt, tens of democracy activists jailed, to stand trial; their groups are 'threatening the stability of the homeland'
Julie Deardorff : Researchers say antioxidants may not be that effective and could do more harm than good
Mark Clayton: How did Anonymous hackers eavesdrop on FBI and Scotland Yard?
February 3, 2012
Edmund Sanders : Israeli official says Iran is creating missile that could reach East Coast of US
Victoria Kim: Immigrant-smuggling ring used black drivers to avoid racial profiling
February 2, 2012
Jim Carney: Wrong number call may have saved her life
Reza Kahlili : Ex-CIA spy in Iran's Revolutionary Guard: What Obama doesn't grasp about striking deals with Tehran
Tina Susman: For woodchuck rescuer, every day is Groundhog Day
February 1, 2012
Brian Bennett: US officials see increasing threat of domestic attack from Iran
Emily Brandon: How to Take Advantage of New 401(k) Fee Disclosures
January 31, 2012
January 30, 2012
Paul Richter and Ramin Mostaghim: Misreading Teheran's limits -- deadly and economically devastating as they may be -- is a risk administration, Europe seem willing to take
Suzanne Bohan: Warning: Nap-deprived tots missing more than sleep, study finds
Meg Handley: Banks Revamping Rewards Programs to Woo Customers
January 27, 2012
Caroline B. Glick: Obama: Of course I intend to prevent a nuclear holocaust . . . in a few months
Yochonon Donn: In liberal New York City, fervently-Orthodox Jews may soon be getting a district to call their own
Jeannine Stein: An inflated ego and thinking you're 'all that' doesn't just make others sick of you, it can make you ill
Katy Hopkins: New budget rules may affect how much money you get for college
January 26, 2012
Ed Koch: To the New York Times, calling for the murder of Jews by those capable of having their incitement taken seriously isn't news
Jeannine Stein: Mental illness struck one in five U.S. adults in 2010: Report
January 25, 2012
Richard Simon: House passes two bills endorsing the use of religious symbols at military memorials
Fred Weir: Putin: Multiethnic Russia cannot survive as a US-style 'melting pot'; must find its own way
Susan Johnston: 5 Sneaky Coupon Strategies Consumers Should Watch Out For
January 24, 2012
Carol Clark: The price of your soul: How your brain decides whether to 'sell out'
Caroline B. Glick: America lost most in 'Arab Spring'. Sadly, many voters still don't grasp the extent
Warren Richey: Drug criminal scores win in GPS ruling from conservative-leaning high court
Erika Bolstad: Black conservatives gather to talk about gaining strength
January 23, 2012
Melissa Dribben: Jewish voters to play a key role in Florida's Republican primary
Jordan Rau: In quest to grow, Catholic hospital system will announce this morning its break from church
Ali Safi: U.S. envoy gives Taliban terms for peace talks
January 19, 2012
January 18, 2012
January 17, 2012
Frank J. Gaffney Jr.: No-kidding red lines: U.S. response to an Iranian nuke may be bluster, but Israel's won't be
David G. Savage: They sued their principals after slandering them online --- now the cases are headed to the Supreme Court
David Francis: Where to Invest in 2012: With stocks expected to rebound, opportunity abounds for investors
January 13, 2012
Ben Lynfield: Israeli lawmakers move to annex Jewish Judea, one museum at a time
Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz: Thriving through touch: Gentle massage helps older people with low mobility improve in mind and body
January 12, 2012
Warren Richey: Landmark Supreme Court ruling a 'resounding win' for religious groups
Warren Richey: Supreme Court says no to new rule on eyewitness testimony
John Fauber : Statins found to raise diabetes risk in postmenopausal women
Katy Hopkins : Consider This Before You Pay for an Online Degree
The Kosher Gourmet by Joseph Erdos: This mushroom and barley soup has an intense -- almost nutty -- flavor that mixes robust with Middle East. It has creaminess without cream
January 11, 2012
Shari Roan: Millions of atrial fibrillation sufferers at risk for devastating, but preventable, stroke
Tom Hussain: Pakistan -- recipient of more than $21 billion in civilian and military aid -- speeds pursuit of Iranian pipeline, defying US
David G. Savage: High court signals it won't be loosening TV's 'indecency' rules
Stephen Ceasar: Oklahoma's Islamic law amendment can't go into effect, court rules
January 10, 2012
Reza Kahlili: From an ex-CIA spy: US must exploit new split in Iran's Revolutionary Guard
Karen Kaplan: Study: Nicotine replacement products ineffective when used in real-life situations
January 9, 2012
Michael Doyle: Put through legal hell over dream home, couple fought back hard --- all the way to Supreme Court
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Jewish World Review
Oct. 11, 2005
/ 8 Tishrei, 5766
We've come a long way, baby?
By
Kathryn Lopez
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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
I suspect that I should be having warm, fuzzy "we girls can do
anything" feelings about being a woman this fall.
Just think about the fairer sex's collective accomplishments: Geena
Davis is president of the United States! And didn't President Bush
answer calls to appoint a woman to the Supreme Court, just to meet
some perceived quota rule, when he named his pal Harriet Miers to
the Supreme Court?
In short, instead of being the inspiration to women I'm sure someone
thinks they are, the two events lead me to one solid conclusion:
Blue-staters in D.C. and Hollywood do a darn good job making
women look silly.
Take first the lighter of the two fall phenomena: "Commander in
Chief," the new ABC drama about the first woman president. The White
House Project, a group whose purpose is to make sure that a woman
makes it to the White House someday, encouraged women to hold
parties to celebrate this supposedly groundbreaking drama.
Ironically, I watch "Commander in Chief" and just get depressed.
The first message of the show seems to be that women can only be
elected president through a back door. In "Commander in Chief,"
Davis' character only becomes our national leader because she is the
vice president to a president who, as milestone luck would have it,
dies. But before he goes he makes clear that he believes she
shouldn't be president. The Speaker of the House thinks she's a
joke.
The second message I get from "Commander in Chief" is: Women are
silly. "If Moses had been a woman, leading the Jews out of Egypt,
she'd have stopped to ask for directions." Are we really supposed to
take that kind of caricatured dialogue seriously? Most professional
women I know many of them in the Beltway political world, as it
happens are not playing juvenile Battle of the Sexes games.
They're just out doing their jobs and proving themselves like
everyone else. And that's how (ideally, anyway) women rise on
merit. Do the job, measure up on any objective scale, and you'll be
in the pool of the qualified and successful. "Just do it," as the
sneaker commercial advised. Not in a dumbed-down
"well-here's-the-best-the-women-can-do" category. To do otherwise
to make that separate category is insulting and unnecessary.
Or that's how I hoped things worked among the serious. But the "Prez
Geena" nonsense seems to have infiltrated my often-beloved Bush
White House. At least this is the message I take from the Harriet
Miers nomination to the Supreme Court.
Whatever the criteria the president used to choose Miers for his
second Supreme Court nomination, there are few who believe she
wasn't picked, perhaps first and foremost, because she's a woman.
There was an erroneous conventional wisdom that the president simply
had to nominate a woman: That the Sandra Day O'Connor seat is a
woman's seat on the court.
And the president surely hasn't done much to debunk the image that
he buys into the woman's seat nonsense. The day after his nomination
of Miers a nomination met with criticism from many of his usual
allies (like me) on the Right the president held a press
conference, during which he kept latching onto female things as
evidence that she is Supreme material. First woman member of her
former law firm. Trailblazer.
But couldn't she just be qualified in a pool of potential picks,
male and female? You know, like John Roberts was? Boosting the
self-esteem of white guys wasn't part of his qualifications for the
court. Can you imagine anyone even suggesting such a thing? Never
mind the president of the United States doing so.
As for the White House, the impression "Commander in Chief" may give
you that a woman president is unelectable may, in fact, be fiction.
We won't know until it happens, but according to a May 2005 USA
Today/CNN/Gallup Poll, 70 percent of respondents claimed they "would
be likely to vote for an unspecified woman for president in 2008."
Maybe that's because they see women who can compete in the political
field not because of their sex, but their talent. Who, as it looks
right now, may just have more winning potential than some of the
guys on the list of 2008 potentials.
Condi vs. Hillary? Maybe. Today, women are players on many of the
same fronts as men. And in presidential politics, if they happen to
be the best of the options the most popular there we will be.
Not because someone gave the American people a lecture that it was
time we gave the girls a chance to throw the ball. But because the
girls took the ball and ran with it and did just as well or better
than anyone else. That's the only fair way. Be it in the White
House, on the Supreme Court, in the military or just about any
other professional front. Anything less is insulting.
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