A while ago I railed about men's sexual identity and politics, going so far as to question whether many instances of torture and violence were caused by sublimation of sexual insecurities. Then I read this. 41% percent of women serving in the military that were in the veteran's hospital have been sexually assaulted! Stop, take a deep breath. And then look at that again. 4 in 10 women who are in the veteran's hospital have been sexually assaulted.

These are women who are trying to defend our country. To serve it with their lives. They are betrayed by a culture that really has no concern for their well-being. I will take it as a given that 99.9% of the men in the military have not read such texts as Refusing to be a Man by John Stoltenberg, or Women's Response to the Men's Movement (compilation of essays) or The Stronger Women Get, the More Men Watch Football By I don't remember. Or even less enlightened texts of the Men's Movement such as Iron John by Robert Bly. The male enlistees are probably not college grads or trust fund kids or kids of left wing parents. Most of the military comes from male dominated cultures and the military culture is strong male, Old Testament Christian vengeful god orientation. If you want proof of that google the Air Force Academy scandals, etc.

The women came to serve, expected camaraderie and got raped. Just like the Air Force Academy young men had their medals pinned directly to their chests. Yes, that is right, to their chest muscles. Pressed through their skin. While these are not anywhere equivalent acts, it points to how twisted this culture is. Rape, torture and hazing are expected. Just like a fist fight in a buddy movie.

These are the people that are making decisions on how we spend money, how the military is run, how it interfaces with government, how paranoid we need to be and what are foreign policy is. If they do not make the decisions, they certainly have a controlling interest into the input that helps form foreign policy decisions.

and now Blackwater is taking their group of unregulated mercenaries (you know, guys who are real good at war, can't get enough of it and revel in that culture) and are forming private espionage groups for industry. Or as they are known in many speculative fiction novels as corporate states. Unregulated entities doing undercover work for self-interested multi-national corporations. Yeow! That is a recipe for disaster.

Then I hear Obama state that the generals serve at the pleasure of the President. This is correct. It makes me very afraid for his life. He is not part of the aforementioned culture. While I am certainly far left of his stances at times, he is far from the stances of the current power structure. I fear for his life. The last time I saw a candidate with this much charisma and "outside the box" appeal, their last names were Kennedy.

Blessed be, Obama. Via con dios.

rojo