Where are you NOW?

Tell me, where is the National Organisation For Women today as a woman in Buffalo, New York lies dead, BEHEADED, by her husband?

Silence, utter silence.

Not a word to condemn this most brutal act of violence against a woman's person -- perhaps the most unforgiveable moment of cowardice I have ever seen by feminist groups and leaders in my entire life in the West.

Look closely at this woman, standing next to her husband in "better times", who eventually killed her (I wonder just good the times were under the surface). Her name was Aasiya Hassan.



This is the face of your friend next door: an intelligent, well-dressed, modern woman like any other. Her death should be covered and spoken about with as much alacrity as Nicole Brown Simpson, another victim of a senseless slaughter with overtones of domestic violence.

I suppose NOW's front page at the time of writing says it all:



Singer Rihanna's assault consisted of a despicable battering by her boyfriend, leaving her with a swollen face, and she gets first mention. Aasiya Hassan's HEAD was severed off her ENTIRE body by her husband for daring to request a divorce, and is this worthy of comment by NOW? No.

My God, what is wrong with these people?

I'm sick and tired of these organisations and groups who adhere to a purely liberal ideological line, using women as their fulcrum, championing and ignoring women according to their whims.

All because they are scared witless that if they wade into anything Islamic, the violence meted out to the late Mrs. Hassan will somehow be visited on their person.

This is America. You have freedom of speech, and your political credo commands you to defend the most vulnerable amongst us, which most certainly includes women who are victims of oppressive husbands.

Speak up. Speak loudly. Make sure it doesn't happen to another woman again in America!

(...crickets)

But...She's Just A Nasty Dirty Allied Ho

Succinct, isn't it? Our grandpas certainly didn't beat about the bush.

I am sure this was an Armed Services magazine advert, since I don't reckon this was splayed across Look or Life magazines during wartime.

Coincidentally, I was watching a documentary about Thai prostitution on my latest awesome online find (a kind of Hulu, only for movies), Jaman. It's called the Virgin Trade, filmed incognito by a British duo of university kids who wanted to expose this seedy underbelly of paedophilia rings and teenage "white" slavery to the world. Well, it did its job, and as ever, you walk away from such tellings feeling:

(A) Completely, abjectly thankful you were not born in that world, where such things are even an outside option.

(B) Wanting to kiss the entire United States of America, where most women are not treated like chattel.

Never in the history of the world has it been so easy to get some, and for free, mind you.

Choose wisely and live freely.

Holy Massive Guns, General Dunwoody

"There is no one more surprised than I — except, of course, my husband. You know what they say, 'Behind every successful woman there is an astonished man.'"

General Ann E. Dunwoody

With these modest words, the US Army got its first full, or "four-star", general.

General Dunwoody's meteoric rise in the nation's oldest armed force didn't seem inevitable when she first joined in 1975. She wasn't a graduate of West Point, nor of course being a woman, did she have a formal combat role -- traditionally the path to the rank of general.

But this skillful woman had a military past: her father was a brigadier-general, Harold H. Dunwoody. Her father's family had been in their country's service since the 1860s, and a member of her overall family, since the 1700s.

She had spent most of her youth outside of the United States as a military brat, in Germany and later Belgium, even graduating from SHAPE (Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe) American High School in 1969.

All her siblings were likewise in the military. Her sister Susan, in fact, was only the third woman to become an Army helicopter pilot. Her niece, Jennifer, is a fighter pilot and the veteran of several missions over of Afghanistan. Amusingly, given the normal roles of the genders, her brother Buck (a graduate of West Point) left the Army as a first-lieutenant.

It was in the first Gulf War where the master parachutist came into her own. She was a battalion commander, handling logistics for the 82nd Airborne Division in Saudi Arabia.

Given her rather haggard appearance at the promotion ceremony, since she is only 55 years-old, I wondered what the young Ann Dunwoody had looked like. I went to the official Army Flickr page and to my astonishment, this ripped babe stared back, a full 17 years after the photo was taken.

Good God...



...Madonna would kill to have those guns, instead of the disgusting, zero-fat, muscle pads she calls arms. Ick.



Her female colleague is leaning into then Colonel Dunwoody, who looks somewhat masculine (understandable given her career and circumstances. The last thing you want to be, is a pert miss like Private Benjamin). Dunwoody had first impressed in her testosterone world because she was a fierce athlete, having competed in gymnastics in high school, and even today she jogs, and plays tennis with ardour.

But I regret to inform the misses O'Donnell and DeGeneres that this accomplished woman is happily married to retired Colonel Craig Brotchie, USAF.

Here they are in Ft. Bend, Oregon, in the 1990s. She looks unrecognisable!



You know, 2008 was a disappointing year for women in power. Not only could we have had either a first female US President, but later potentially the first US Vice-President. Israel could've had its second female Prime Minister too.

None of them panned out.

Moreover, the nation seemed to accept the most egregious sexism I have ever seen, directed to both of these American politicians. The pity is that it was done by people who allegedly champion women by virtue of their more liberal politics.

So this promotion startled me, and actually made me quite happy.

Like General Dunwoody, I too come from a military family (medical military, thus they too are non-combatants). It was always my dream to go to either Sandhurst or West Point, which entrance to Oxford put a stop to. I could've gone on to Sandhurst after graduation, like my own father did, but I didn't. Life took me to other climes, and other circumstances.

But Ann E. Dunwoody was not to be denied. Despite being surrounded by men who allegedly are more narrow-minded than creatures called Chris Matthews, they saw her potential and rewarded it at every turn.

Women like General Dunwoody don't come often. As she takes up her Materiel Command this month, she can be truly proud of what she has accomplished. But her story has a moral embedded with the honours.

“You can live a humdrum, everyday life or live it for all it’s worth,” General Edmunds said. “She lives it to the fullest.”

So ladies, there you have it.

Live life to the fullest, because not only is that your own doing, but no one can take that away from you.

P.S.: The military is without a doubt, the fairest of all professions. It is socially egalitarian, and has a democratic ethos -- one which protects the man or woman to the right or left of you. There is no need for affirmative action programmes there. If you're good, you're good, and you'll go far. It is a severely maligned profession, by those who only boil it down to the evils of bloodshed.

Romancing The Running Mate

Look closely at this photo. See any tension there?



Here's the deal with MSNBC and other anti-McCain-Palin entities:

Instead of asking when was the last time Joe Biden and Barack Obama shared the same stage, and when was the last time Sarah Palin was given a time-out by the McCain staffers for a ludicrous slip of the tongue as Joe Biden recently had, they want to invent "tension".

Do you remember the RNC speech Palin gave? Did you notice how perfunctory the hugs were between Palin and McCain?

I did.

I also noticed that McCain kept leaning into Todd Palin, and four times complimented his wife to his face, rather than to hers.

The reason is very simple.

Palin is running as the very first woman on a Republican Presidential ticket. Moreover, the woman is freaking hot. Moreover x2, McCain had a reputation as a salty sailor ladies' man.

At the least sign of overt affection (which by every source I've read, there is plenty of between the two), media and their blogging surrogates would be all over suggesting more than "affection" at play.

They would suggest a romantic relationship.

I'm really astonished that MSNBC hasn't played that card YET. Of course, there are still 12 days to go. Watch out you two. You can go from "tension" to "sexual" in a trice.

For people who hate so bitterly, nothing is out of bounds.

IN THE COMMENTS: Chickenlittle, as ever sharp-eyed, notes:

The first thing that struck me when I enlarged the photo was damn, the lighting or the angle or something makes her look like Tina Fey.

That's true! I think the pointy chin is where Fey and Palin's otherwise striking similarity ends. Fey is clearly much more angular in the face. But in this photo, the lighting does highlight that.

Yet I could easily see that photo tagged with the heading "What Cindy really thinks".

On that note, just for you Chickenlittle:



The chemistry between both couples is fantastic.

The Male Clicker

So you can finally win the Battle of the Remote Control, lads!

P.S.: Erm, "Less Boobs" button?? That must've been the Queer Eye design input.

He's Just Not That Into You

(Welcome Benning's Writing Pad readers!)




Overheard, random conversation yesterday.

"Should I call him? He hasn't called since Saturday."
"Give it another week. He'll call you."
"How about if you call for me, and ask if he's been thinking about me?"
"I dunno."
"Come on! Here use my cellphone!"
"Okayyyy. I'll tell him I saw him at the gym, and forgot to say hi."
"Good idea!"

I just wanted to fling this book, He's Just Not That Into You: The No-Excuses Truth to Understanding Guys at them both.

By the way, I'd put each lady at around 31-33 years-old.

Maybe if they had been 18...MAYBE. But by the age of 30, get some wisdom, and some self-respect, for crying out loud.

Battle Of The Sexes

"Sheikh Jassem Al-Mutawah explains the difference between men and women, using modern computer software (Iqraa TV, Saudi Arabia, October 2004)"





"How are men and women different? (by famed Italian comedy shorts director, Bruno Bozzetto, 2006)"


Which do you think I as a woman found offensive, and just plain unfunny, though both clips are not dissimilar in viewpoint?

Right. Now why?