It's No Secret! Women Can Do Things!

Even as we examine the current Secret Service scandal, in which the president of the United States is exposed to more physical danger than anyone since the two robbers in "Home Alone," we find as always that certain aspects of any situation can be broken down and analyzed, like taking the lettuce, the tomato, and the ham off a sandwich for further inspection.

(For my vegan friends, kindly substitute the term "fake meat bean patty" for "ham" above.)

People of all sorts and all walks of life have weighed in on the apparent lack of efficacy of the Secret Service, their globetrotting agents protecting the president as they chase prostitutes through foreign alleys, allowing people who claim to be sign-language translators to stand next to him and make weird hand gestures, permitting ex-cons carrying guns to share his elevator, and, most recently, doing next to nothing as a man jumps the White House fence and runs around inside the building.

So I don't have anything to add.  The Secret Service is doing a very poor job, and it's fantastic luck that the First Family has not been harmed.  Let them fight out who's to blame in Congress, where the issue will live longer than anyone wants.

What I want to crab about is a lame point that a local talk show host made the other day.  He would want me to mention his name and station.

This man, who lives to complain about anything that has happened to America since the Pilgrims filed their retirement papers, made a big point of saying that the Washington POST failed to identify a Secret Service agent, the one who was pushed aside at the West Portico door, as a female agent.  And Glenn Beck, a former local top 40 DJ who, as I understand it, now fancies himself a political commentator, made a deal of saying the officer is a woman.

Well, hello, 1965!  Back in those days, women did not get to be police on the streets, nor were they firefighters or paramedics or many other things, and they were held back by men, who said they didn't have the physical strength to do the jobs, nor the mental agility, nor the toughness of character that it takes to face down armed crooks and burning houses.

And then, progress came to America, and women were given the chance to do those jobs, and lookie here, they DID them! It's been a long long time since I've heard anyone say stupid things like "I called for the police and a girl showed up," so maybe the country is progressing right along with the times.  Although, the female meteorologists of the nation would just as soon no one call them "weather girls" any longer.

So the whole deal with "she got knocked down because she is a female" is so much blather.  She got knocked down because the MEN outside failed to do their job, allowing the rogue subject to enter the residence in the first place, and because a large person with mental-illness-fueled adrenalin crashed through the door she was guarding.   You've seen linebackers get knocked down by running backs.  Care to tell Ray Lewis what a wuss he was?

The world is better off for having a diverse workforce, including the public safety field.  A certain local radio station should try to diversify their droning talk hosts and add one or two with some intelligence!