Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/393898
There was joke that made the rounds when Bill Clinton was trying to figure out how to allow gays in the military without upset- ting morale. "Gays in the military," the joke went. "Next thing you know they'll want to be interior decorators!" Of course, gays have always served in our military. Now, a er long last, they can serve openly, and as it turns out it is no big whoop. NextupistheGreatNational Freakout about women serving in combat. On his way out the door, former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta opened all mili- tary jobs to women, beginning a long process of the armed ser- vices appealing to keep cer- tain jobs exclusively male. A great many women can't wait to serve in combat positions. Good lord, next thing you know they'll want to vote. Of course, I understand why this idea makes people feel un- comfortable. I'm a dad. I speak stupid fluently, though I'm not sure I speak it as well as Fox News' Eric Bolling, who re- acted to the sight of a female UAE fighter pilot with giggling misogyny. "Would that be considered boobs on the ground, or no," he offered. "The problem is, af- ter she bombed it, she couldn't park it." As a columnist, I'm offended by his failed attempt at open- mic humor, but the Truman National Security Project—of which I'm a member—released an open letter signed by a doz- ens of severely PO'd veterans who were offended by more than just a blundered attempt at low humor. Apparently 1,000 Women Airforce Service Pilots, or WASPs, flew combat missions during World War II. As the Truman Project letter noted, "Seeing as U.S. Army Air Forces Commander 'Hap' Ar- nold said 'Now in 1944, it is on the record that women can fly as well as men,' we can prob- ably guess he thought their parking was adequate." See, now that's funny. The sad part of that story is that they were told that not only would they not re- ceive compensation but they weren't allowed to tell any- one that they flew combat mis- sions against fascists because it might offend sensitivities. War really is hell. Guys might get their feelings hurt. Women have been find- ing ways to defend our coun- try since the Revolutionary War, when Deborah Sampson served in George Washington's army for more than a year dis- guised as a man. But still we somehow think we're sup- posed to protect these women from serving in combat. Other countries have gotten over this. Women serve in com- bat positions in Australia, Can- ada, Denmark, Eritrea, Fin- land, France, Germany, Israel, the Netherlands, Norway, Po- land, Romania, and Sweden. South Korea, Pakistan, Ser- bia, South Africa, and the good ol' UAE now allow women to serve as fighter pilots. Even Russia has a long tradition of allowing women to fight. Hear that, America? Women are freer in Russia. Want more proof? Half of all Viking warriors were women. Hope that didn't up- set Viking morale. Gosh. Also, golly. We've gotten used to women doing jobs formerly reserved for big, strong men. Now big, strong women can be cops, fire fighters, astronauts, and pretty much anything they want to in America. Heck, there's a girl on my son's middle school football team. In Texas. And she's a lineman. If a girl can knock a guy on his hind end on a Texas football field, we can all learn to say linewoman and get over ourselves. The only thing we have to fear is the inevitable sexist back- lash against women encroach- ing on male territory. Think about this, fellas: They said blacks couldn't measure up and would upset morale. Hogwash. They said gays were weak and would upset morale. Bal- derdash. Now they're saying women can't do enough pull- ups and will upset morale. Right. Maybe the problem is the precious little baby bunny feelings we always have to look out for. The land of the free ought to be a home for the brave. We have an all-volunteer military, and women are volunteering. Women have been fighting for our country since before we were a country. How about we let them do whatever jobs they qualify for? They might have boobs under their shirts, but that's our flag on their uni- forms, too, and that's no joke. JasonStanfordisaregular contributor to the Austin American-Statesman, a Democratic consultant and a Truman National Security Project partner. You can email him at stanford@oppresearch. com and follow him on Twitter @JasStanford. JasonStanford Let women serve in combat Cartoonist's take MIKEKEEFE Would you like to hear, and ask questions, about the state of our Tehama County gov- ernment? Chair- man of the Board of Supervisors Steve Chamb- lin will appear as the guest of the Tea Party Patriots at about tonight at the Westside Grange on Walnut St., west of Baker. The regular meeting starts at 6 p.m. Do you find the events sur- rounding the Ebola outbreak in Africa, as well as the arrival and appearance of infected peo- ple hear in America, to be dis- concerting, even terrifying? Perhaps not so much on foreign soil as footage of such mala- dies in impoverished, backward nations has over time almost numbed us to their human con- dition. However, it pains any sentient soul to grasp that thou- sands have died, that many more thousands have been and remain infected and likely to die, and that the toll could reach into the millions before it winds down as all mass infec- tions eventually do. Moreover, our government and private charities reaching out with advanced medical aid aside, the federal government's default role is to protect Amer- ican citizens residing within our borders from such foreign, viral threats. State governors, leaders and agencies certainly swing into action but our na- tional government has respon- sibility for Customs and Border Enforcement and sole discre- tion over the decisions to re- strict travel in the face of an in- ternational emergency and ep- idemic. The competence and profes- sional expertise of federal and state medical authorities should inspire calm and a sense that the relatively isolated cases are being handled so as to erect vir- tual firewalls between infected people and the general pub- lic. Ebola is a scary, but hard to contract, disease and I find it unseemly to engage in nearly hysterical speculation over worst-case scenarios that, in the past, have usually failed to materialize. A relatively small number of people are going to contact the bodily fluids— sweat, vaporized expectorant from coughing, etc.—of any in- fectious individual. Sure, Ebola could evolve into an airborne virus spread by un- suspecting but infected peo- ple far and wide; however, that unlikely development has to be dismissed unless it actually transpires. Our federal agencies and their spokespersons, like Dr. Frieden of the Centers for Disease Control, have insisted against all logic that banning entry into America by foreign- ers from Ebola-ridden Central African nations would be coun- terproductive. It's possible their decisions won't result in more infections and deaths on our soil but what if they're wrong? Will Frieden and Obama own up to respon- sibility for deaths of Americans that would not have occurred if such foreign travelers were re- fused entry. "U.S. not considering a travel ban amid Ebola outbreak," the White House said on Monday (Reuters). Illustrating how far and deep into politically cor- rect, multi-cultural non-logic they have gone, Frieden actu- ally invoked the role of slav- ery in the founding of Liberia as a paramount reason against a travel ban. How, exactly, does that relate to other countries like Sierra Leone? Hmmm. We've already seen that, in the case of Liberian national (they sure delayed telling us that fact) Mr. Duncan, his en- try into America was effected by his lying to Liberian air- port screeners, which was moti- vated by his understandable de- termination to get into America for access to American medi- cal treatment. We surely don't have the resources for all in- fected Africans to come here. We surely can't fly medical re- sources to every underdevel- oped city and country where lightly screened African citizens land and proceed to contact and infect others. That's not a speculative scenario, just facts. Media talkers hesitate to state the obvious: this is a test of President Obama's leadership. When it comes to highly in- formed, but realistic, specula- tive fantasy, no one does it bet- ter than author Tom Clancy: Hunt for Red October, Patriot Games, Clear and Present Dan- ger and The Sum of all Fears, among others. This summer, I found a hardcover, 900-page book by Clancy, Executive Or- ders (1996), and had the time to read it all. In short, the CIA an- alyst, Jack Ryan, becomes an unlikely President Ryan after a terrorist attack on Congress during a joint session address by the prior President. He has numerous plots against Amer- ica land on his plate at once— all at the behest of Iran's jihad- ist, Muslim mullah. One of those plots in- volved turning the Ebola vi- rus into a biological weapon of mass destruction by cultivat- ing an infectious stew that be- came dispersible as an aero- sol from pressurized cans. Ira- nian agents simply placed those cans in convention cen- ters holding events—sales, rec- reation, etc.—in 8 to 10 Amer- ican cities, with timers set to release the Ebola at a point of maximum attendance. With at- tendees and vendors from far and wide, they simply waited, secure in the knowledge that their efforts were untraceable back to Iran. As first hundreds, and even- tually thousands, of Ameri- cans reported to hospital emer- gency rooms with symptoms, most of whom would die, and all of whom had the biological capacity to spread the disease through the air, President Ryan had to make some tough deci- sions. Using emergency powers, he ordered all interstate travel prohibited: automobiles, planes, buses and trains, with National Guard troops enforcing the ban at all highway state borders. Sorry to tease you but I'll fin- ish the plots, one involving the Secret Service, next week. Don Polson has called Red Bluff home since 1988. He can be reached by e-mail at donplsn@ yahoo.com. The way I see it Ebola — the reality and fantasy Women have been finding ways to defend our country since the Revolutionary War, when Deborah Sampson served in George Washington's army for more than a year disguised as a man. Sounding off A look at what readers are saying in comments on our website and on social media. Nohonestpersonwillgiveanyrespectto the comments regurgitated from a cowardly bushwhacker who hides behind a phony name waiting to dry gulch anybody he disagrees with. Les Wolfe: On those who comment on redbluffdailynews.com using aliases I must say that I was very disappointed in the festival. It used to be about apples, there were only two booths selling apples. The rest of the booths were selling the same things — soap, jewelry, wooden signs, etc. It has just become commercialized. Rebecca Leah Calkins: On coverage of Saturday's Manton Apple Festival Greg Stevens, Publisher Chip Thompson, Editor EDITORIAL BOARD How to have your say: Letters must be signed and provide the writer's home street address and home phone number. Anonymous letters, open letters to others, pen names and petition-style letters will not be allowed. Letters should be typed and no more than two double-spaced pages or 500words. When several letters address the same issue, a cross section will be published. Email: editor@red bluffdailynews.com Phone: 530-527- 2151ext. 112 Mail to: P.O. 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