Moxy dames

At a Georgetown University speech, W's legal lickspittle ignored a few student protesters, but he might have learned something from their banner, emblazoned with words of Benjamin Franklin: 'Those who would sacrifice liberty for security deserve neither.'

Maureen Dowd does have her way with words. I don't plan on positioning myself between the lady and her spittoon any time soon.

Elsewhere in the news, Carly Simon and Susan Sarandon support a documentary on Christa McAuliffe, the teacher who died in the 1986 Challenger explosion. Carly wrote a song for the film, Susan volunteered to narrate the life of the woman who said

I touch the future. I teach.

According to the film, pioneer womens' journals were required reading in Christa's classes to balance out male centered history books.

As for male centered reporting, today's Plain Dealer lead stories: Wayne Hill's addicted to his Blackberry and might get cut off, Governor Taft's approval rating has tanked, the B-52 bomber will not be set out to pasture quite yet and

Hamas, the militant Islamic party sworn to the destruction of Israel, won a large share of votes in the first Palestinian legislative elections in a decade, depriving the more secular Fatah party of its longstanding monopoly on power.

Continued on page 2 and here she is, her caption reading:

A supporter of the ruling Fatah party celebrates in Gaza City after exit polls were released following Wednesday's Palestinian elections.

Babushka covered hair, kafia draped shoulders, eyes squinting skyward, a Fatah supporter poised against the night, her right hand on the trigger, her left hand hefting the gun.

It's tempting to draw conclusions. Rather, I draw conclusions without thinking; it's tempting to write them here as though I have a clue about her world.

I'll tell you what I'm feeling. Regret. She wields a weapon. Awe. The photo doesn't blink. Humility. Conviction stands against the night. Dread. I feel the danger bearing down.

A leader of Hamas says this about the election:

The Americans and the Europeans say to Hamas: either you have weapons or you enter the legislative council. We say weapons and the legislative council. There is no contradiction between the two.

Dowd lampoons the beltway, Simon and Sarandon laud the teacher and a million lifetimes away, a nameless woman stands watch as leaders around the globe make speeches wedding governments to guns, liberty to surveillance and the future to a danger bearing down.