The Pentagon is opening up the question of women in the military, and as usual the debate is generally over the wrong questions. It\u2019s one thing to say that women can be at combat headquarters, and quite another to say that with current regulations women can be combat infantrymen. The current physical qualifications are different for men and women; and there\u2019s the rub.<\/p>\n It takes great physical strength to carry a comrade in full kit any distance at all. It\u2019s difficult enough for men. It\u2019s impossible for a great number of women who have passed the women\u2019s physical qualification tests. There are other reasons. It\u2019s one thing to review the physical qualifications for some occupational specialties to see just are the physical requirements, and quite another to simply declare that they aren\u2019t relevant. I don\u2019t want to open a big can of worms here, but it seems obvious that some combat occupations simply take strength, and general infantry is one of them. I think of some artillery posts that require upper body strength as well. And while we aren\u2019t likely to have bayonet charges in modern warfare, it\u2019s pretty clear that women aren\u2019t going to be as good at close combat as men.<\/p>\n There are no rules that prevent women from playing in the NBA, although the rules don\u2019t let men play in the WNBA. I presume that women boxers could step up and try to participate in boxing, or professional football, and I expect that some might be as good at it as some men are now, but still \u2013<\/p>\n We\u2019ll see what happens, but I do not think that imposing some kind of entitlement strategy on the legions is a good idea.<\/p>\n We have had a developing situation that puts a spotlight on the Los Angeles education system. On the one hand there is incontrovertible evidence that at least one and probably several teachers in a Los Angeles grade school were involved in some very strange perversions involving third grade children. On the other we have the memory of the McMartin case<\/a> and its accompanying witch hunts in Los Angeles. At one time everyone believed any child who accused any adult, to the point where, in the McMartin case, impossible events were taken as true. The way the children were questioned made it almost certain that they would accuse someone of something, since they would be hounded until they did; and no, I am not making that up. And in the McMartin case at one point there were stories of bodies being buried on the school grounds, and archeological teams went out digging. Some investigators took seriously charges that the children were transported to Forest Lawn Cemetery and made to witness burials, although the logistics of transporting an entire class, many of whom had no memory of the event, and getting them to Glendale and back to Manhattan Beach in LA traffic were never discussed, and no one could be found who actually saw the busses \u2013 except of course the children who were telling the story.<\/p>\n For those who don\u2019t know about the crazy witch hunts of the 1980\u2019s this may make no sense, but believe, me, they happened, and in those days the voodoo scientists \u2013 excuse me, child psychologists \u2013 had elaborate theories about how the children weren\u2019t really able to make up stories like that, so there had to be grains of truth in them. There were also implanted memories. The notion that a psychologist could implant memories in young children was met with scorn until one defense psychologist showed that the child witness could actually be induced to remember being molested \u2013 by the judge, whom she had never seen before the trial began. Actually, the technique of implanting memories in young children is fairly simply and easily accomplished, although the ethical implications of implanting false memories as a means of demonstrating the technique are severe enough that few want to do it.<\/p>\n The problem then is that on the one hand the teachers need some protection from slander \u2013 they are after all facing professional ruin if not jail \u2013 and on the other the children need protection from pederasts who have managed to get into classrooms. In the latest LA case it gets even more complicated. It\u2019s unlikely that some of the teachers in this one school were unaware that something strange was going on. It\u2019s even less likely that all the teachers in that school had their suspicions.<\/p>\n I doubt that this mess will result in a real reform, because the LA school system is so corrupted that it almost certainly has to be abolished and rebuilt from scratch, but it may be that we will learn something from what\u2019s going on here. <\/p>\n I suspect I am rambling. It hasn\u2019t been a pleasant day. <\/p>\n View 713 Sunday, February 12, 2012 I spent the day thinking well, I am recovering, why am I not working? But I didn\u2019t get much done. I do think I am recovering and I hope to wake up tomorrow without the sore throat and headache and just get on with \u2026 Continue reading ![\"clip_image002\"](\"http:\/\/jerrypournelle.com\/chaosmanor\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/clip_image002_thumb14.gif\" "\\"clip_image002\\"")
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