(CNN) — For Gen. Martin Dempsey, Thursday’s move to open combat units in the U.S. military to women had its roots nearly a decade ago, on the streets of Baghdad. Dempsey took command of the Army’s 1st Armored Division in June 2003, when Iraqi insurgents were starting to target American troops with sniper fire, grenades…
(CNN) — CNN.com readers snapped to attention at Wednesday afternoon’s announcement that the Pentagon was planning to open combat roles to women. Commenters who identified themselves as male and as veterans overwhelmingly — but certainly not unanimously — opposed the change. The story’s very first comment raised the question of pregnancy’s effect on battle readiness…
When I was a teenager, I found great joy in Arnold Schwarzenegger movies. And even then, I was a budding movie critic, so I knew, more or less, that my joy was not based in some aesthetic appreciation of his acting, or the film’s surrounding, or even in the often great special effects that would…
When you were born, your parents counted your fingers and toes. They lovingly stroked your baby-soft skin, checked to make sure all parts were present and accounted for, then they looked into your face and wondered what might become of you someday. They never asked for a refund because of your hair (or lack thereof)….
This is the official statistic from the San Diego County Health Department. But we who have been involved with this HIV/AIDS epidemic since its early dark days of the 1980s (when indeed AIDS = death was true) know that countless people died of AIDS and they were not reported as such but as cancer, heart…
dvd of the week The second animated film by Tim Burton to be nominated for an Oscar, Frankenweenie has more flashes of brilliance in it than anything he has done in more than a decade. It is the story of a strange, nerdy boy – both a budding filmmaker and a genius scientist – who…
dvr this Starz, Friday, Jan. 25, 10 p.m. The Starz show about mostly naked muscle men killing each other and having sex with each other and many of the women they come into contact with is loosely based on the actual Roman slave rebellion during the first century B.C. It’s astonishingly violent and the sex…
“We, the people, declare today that the most evident of truths – that all of us are created equal – is the star that guides us still; just as it guided our forebears through Seneca Falls, and Selma, and Stonewall … Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like…
Members of the House of Representatives have offices in three buildings, each of which is named after a former speaker: Sam Rayburn, Nicholas Longworth and Joseph Gurney Cannon. When a fourth building is needed, I have little doubt it will be the “Nancy Pelosi House Office Building.” Not just because she was the first woman…
Flight lesson No. 1 Kim: “Push the stick forward and the houses get bigger. Pull the stick back and the houses get smaller. That’s all there is to flying”, or so I’ve heard. I was about to find out during my first flight. I was a little nervous and had to remind myself that I’ve…
