Posted on 04/12/2003 2:12:02 AM PDT by kcordell
America's newest hero is the petite Pfc. Jessica Lynch, who was rescued from behind enemy lines on April 2. Lynch, who may have engaged Iraqi troops in a deadly firefight before being captured, is one of the valiant women warriors helping to erode the strictures against allowing women in combat.
But Lynch's heroics mean nothing to the imperious William "Hootie" Johnson, who runs his own little tyranny in the conservative east Georgia city of Augusta. His exclusive golf club, Augusta National, will not abide incursions by women members -- no matter their courage, honor, stature or wealth. While the Army, the Navy, the Air Force and the Marines have given up the antiquated notion that placing women alongside men would erode discipline and hurt morale, the snooty Hootie has not.
Johnson runs the club as his predecessors did -- with an iron fist, brooking no dissent, rarely admitting error. (Johnson did, however, reverse an earlier edict that would have stripped former Masters champions of a lifetime right to play in the tournament. But that reversal may have arisen from Johnson's natural sympathy toward his AARP contemporaries.)
Just last month, Johnson lambasted Gov. Sonny Perdue for suggesting that it would be logical to include women -- even though the governor also went out of his way to express a modicum of sympathy for Johnson's defiance.
"From what I'm hearing, they want to do the right thing," Perdue told an Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter. "They just feel a little trapped. I think there can be some argument made for not doing it at the point of some . . . figurative bayonet.
"I think everyone at some point would like to see [the club admit women]," Perdue added, innocuously enough.
The governor, by the way, hardly has a reputation as a crusading progressive. He also knows something about feeling trapped. After all, he is still mired in a foolish campaign pledge to allow Georgians to vote on the return of a recently retired state flag, which prominently features the Confederate battle emblem, a divisive symbol that especially galls black Georgians.
But even Perdue has recognized the tides of cultural change -- women bomber pilots, Title IX, the 19th Amendment. But for Johnson, those tides stop at the gates of his clubhouse.
Johnson insists that his club, as a private group, has every legal right to exclude women. As a strictly legal matter, he is probably right. But it is a curious policy nevertheless, especially at a time when at least one other female soldier, Army Spc. Sohshana Johnson, is officially still being held as a prisoner of war, when Condoleezza Rice advises President Bush on national security, and when 14 women serve in the United States Senate, allegedly the most exclusive club in the nation.
But, Johnson's defenders insist, the members of Augusta National are entitled to their privacy, one of the most important privileges of a free society. OK, I'll buy that. But it still seems an odd view of privacy -- narrow and eccentric. What could the boys be up to that they must hide from the likes of the handful of women who would be eligible to join -- Supreme Court justices, chief executive officers of Fortune 500 companies, U.S. senators?
Does Johnson think women would recoil from cigar smoke or agitate for facials and manicures? That they'll try to change the color of that garish green jacket?
Johnson and his supporters point to polls, which they claim show that most Americans support their implicit policy of gender segregation. Actually, they're wrong. A poll that Johnson commissioned supports his view, but independent polls commissioned by news organizations show that Americans are evenly divided over Augusta's exclusionary practice, with women more likely than men to support change.
Besides, Johnson ought to know better than to rely on polls for moral clarity. As a man who enjoyed a reputation as a progressive on racial matters earlier in his career, Johnson knows perfectly well that public sentiment is no guide for a man trying to do the right thing.
No matter what polls may show, Augusta National is wrong to exclude women from its membership. It's as simple as that.
Cynthia is the bed-wetting, Liberal Opinion Editor of the Atlanta Journal and Constitution. She is a graduate of the University of Auburn where she belonged to several groups that EXCLUDED whites.
Somehow, I really, really don't think that this was on young Private Lynch's mind when she was lying there with broken bones and lacerations.
Of course, if Cynthia had her way, we would learn that Private Lynch, while undergoing the particular injuries, would assign "causes" to each, such as; "Ouch, this broken leg is for the furtherrance of women in combat", and "Ouch, this broken leg is for you, Martha Burk, may NOW prevail", or perhaps she said: "Ouch, I suffered this broken arm because of you, Hootie."
But we all know, if asked, she most certainly would have said: "Martha who?" or "Hootie what?".
For Tucker to attempt to use Private Lynch's situation as an equation to the goofy attempts from an organization such as NOW to gain entry into Augusta National is just shameful.
But then, Cynthia Tucker has always been shameful, ever ready to throw down the race card, the sex card, the religion card, it doesn't matter with her, just as long as she can spew her inane rhetoric.
I really, truly, do not see how this spiteful, racist, poverty-pimping, race-baiting hack continues to occupy an editorial post at that crap rag she writes for.
But then it is the Urinal-Constipation isn't it?
And just in case no one else has figured it out, Cynthia Tucker does not really see young Private Lynch as a hero or a valiant soldier, she sees her only as another tool for her to use to justify the crap she writes.
He is. Cynthia - quit yer bitchin'. I douubt seriously that Pfc. Jessica Lynch went into battle thinking that her actions would change private policy at the AGC.
After all, he is still mired in a foolish campaign pledge to allow Georgians to vote on the return of a recently retired state flag, which prominently features the Confederate battle emblem, a divisive symbol that especially galls black Georgians.
Oh the humanity, a politician that keeps his word. I'd walk over 20 miles of broken glass to vote for the old flag if I knew it would keep Cynthia torqed.
But it is a curious policy nevertheless, especially at a time when at least one other female soldier, Army Spc. Sohshana Johnson, is officially still being held as a prisoner of war, when Condoleezza Rice advises President Bush on national security, and when 14 women serve in the United States Senate, allegedly the most exclusive club in the nation.
Fine, I'm sure Cynthia is all for abolishing Black colleges, the Miss Black America Pageant, the RAINBOW/PUSH, the NAACP and other such institutions. As far as that goes, hire some conservatives and maybe then the liberal rag wouldn't be known as the Atlanta Urinal-Constipation.
Does Johnson think women would recoil from cigar smoke or agitate for facials and manicures? That they'll try to change the color of that garish green jacket?
How stupid can she be? She's arguing FOR the club to change it rules, and than claims that once in they won't change anything else!
No matter what polls may show, Augusta National is wrong to exclude women from its membership. It's as simple as that.
Screw the polls, Cynthia is mad because SHE can't join.
We need to break apart EVERY clubs and association that excludes anyone else different. "Freedom of Association" is not a real thing in the country?" Let's demolish and defund those all womyn universities and ethnic fraternities.
I'll buy into all this pseudo-egalitarian stuff when I see Jesse Jackson passionately committed to getting Japanese-American Gandmothers on the NBA starting lineup.
Ok, she buys the idea of freedom of association. So what is the point of her rant? Must have something to do with depression brought on by Saddams defeat.
Hey, Cynthia, let's see men playing in LPGA tournaments on an equal basis with the gals and lets also see some men on the board of the NOW gang and THEN we'll talk about the rights and wrongs of excluding genders, huh?
Women try to horn in on men's activities from the time they learn to talk, and then they procede to change all the rules and run the entire game.
Are there any women that can qualify for the Masters? Can they drive a ball as far as a man? Would they have to be given a handicap if they played the Masters? Also, can a man play in the LPGA? If it were allowed, would he have to be given a "reverse" handicap?
These are serious questions, as I don't know the answers.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.