blatherings

i don't understand women like Dina McGreevey, Silda Spitzer, Hillary Clinton, or Carmela Soprano.



(by the way i have no idea why they are dressed alike:  could it be the uniform of contrition after adultery?)

ok. so your man has just humiliated you in front of the whole world.  he has shown absolutely no regard for your feelings or physical preservation or that of your kids. how do you stand by his side at the press conference knowing that you have a tortured look on your face?  knowing that the whole world is looking at you while he talks?  how do you hold his hand as you walk off the stage?

this is my question:  why stand there in the first place?  is it force of habit from a lifetime of being there for the "big" moments?  do otherwise strong women turn to putty in these awful times and allow themselves to be pushed onstage by political handlers—or yanked up there by desperate foolish husbands?  what does a woman have to gain by letting the whole world watch what would be hard enough to bear even behind a locked bathroom door with the shower on full blast?
 

Spc. Monica Lin Brown Earns a Silver Star

The nation's third-highest medal for valor.  

Under gunfire and mortar fire, she helped move wounded comrades to safety, at times shielding them with her own body.

Brown age 19, of Lake Jackson, Texas, is scheduled to receive the Silver Star later this month. She was part of a four-vehicle convoy patrolling near Jani Kheil in the eastern province of Paktia on April 25, 2007, when a bomb struck one of the Humvees.

"We stopped the convoy. I opened up my door and grabbed my aid bag," Brown said.

She started running toward the burning vehicle as insurgents opened fire. All five wounded soldiers had scrambled out.

"I assessed the patients to see how bad they were. We tried to move them to a safer location because we were still receiving incoming fire," Brown said.

She helped move them out of harm's way, eventually some 500 yards, and then treated their wounds and saw them off to safety.  She saved their lives.

The military said Brown's "bravery, unselfish actions and medical aid rendered under fire saved the lives of her comrades and represents the finest traditions of heroism in combat."

Spc. Brown serves in the 4th Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team. 

Spc. Monica Lin Brown from Lake Jackson Texas of the 82nd Airborne stands guard at a forwarded operating base in Khost, Afghanistan, Saturday, March 8, 2008. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

Well done Specialist Brown.  Thank you for your service.  An "All American Hero" with Girl Power too.