The Common Ills: Yeah, there is a war against women (and the White House has been part of it)

Thursday, November 13, 2014

Yeah, there is a war against women (and the White House has been part of it)

Whose war on women?

US House Rep Nancy Pelosi, among others, began running with the theme of a "war on women" shortly after Holly Near's Show Up was released in 2006 (Kat reviewed it here). From Holly's "Somebody's Jail:"

And I feel the witch in my veins
I feel the mother in my shoe
I feel the scream in my soul
The blood as I sing the ancient blue
They burned by the millions
I still smell the fire in my grandma's hair
The war against women rages on
Beware of the fairytale
Somebody's mama, somebody's daughter
Somebody's jail

Of course, Holly got no credit but they began running with the phrase, the Democratic Party. As if they weren't part of the war against women -- Barack does pick up b-ball games with which workers and golfs with which gender?

The hypocrisy was never more clear than last fall when Barack chose to nominate an unqualified person for a post: Jo Ann Rooney.

Last year, Jennifer Hlad (Stars and Stripes) reported the problem with Rooney's nomination for Navy Undersecretary:

In response to a written question about the potential impact of requiring a judge advocate outside the chain of command to determine whether sexual assault allegations should be prosecuted, nominee Jo Ann Rooney wrote that judge advocates outside the chain of command would look at the case “through a different lens than a military commander.”
“I believe the impact would be decisions based on evidence rather than the interest in preserving good order and discipline,” she wrote. “I believe this will result in fewer prosecutions and therefore defeat the very problem that I understand it seeks to address.”
Thursday, Gillibrand called Rooney’s statement about “decisions based on evidence” shocking and said it and others like it erode victims’ trust in the system.

“The United States legal system, based on evidence, justice and due process, is the cornerstone of our democracy. Why isn’t this good enough for our servicemembers who risk everything to protect those freedoms?” she said. “The brave men and women we send to war to keep us safe deserve nothing less than a justice system equal to their sacrifice.”

That was October 2013. This morning, over a year later, Austin Wright (POLITICO) reports that Barack Obama is withdrawing his nomination of Rooney.

That may sound like good news.

But (a) it took over a year of the clearly unqualified nominee being blocked.

Clearly unqualified?

If you don't support the US legal system and evidence based rulings, you really shouldn't be serving in the government.

And (b), she won't be getting the promotion, she'll continue in her job:

Dr. Jo Ann Rooney is the Principal Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness. She is the deputy senior policy advisor to the Secretary of Defense on recruitment, career development, pay and benefits for 1.4 million active duty military personnel, 1.3 million Guard and Reserve personnel, 680,000 DoD civilians, and is responsible for overseeing the overall state of military readiness. The President appointed Dr. Rooney as the Principal Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness on June 2, 2011, following her confirmation by the Senate. Dr. Rooney served as Acting Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness from November 2011 to June 2012.

You want someone over personnel who doesn't believe assaults and rape should be judged by evidence?

Her statements qualified as gross insubordination and she should be fired for just cause.

Her position does require an oath of office.

Rooney and others may need to review that oath and explain how her statements are not in direct conflict with that oath. (They are in direct conflict.)

The War Against Women is real.

It's just a campaign slogan.

And when Dems try to use it to blast the other side, they need to have their own house in order.

The following community sites -- plus Antiwar.com and NPR music -- updated: