"Band of Siblings" doesn't have the same ring, but...

I was looking around the Swing State Project and came across this post about an up-and-coming political organization that aims to help elect Democrat veterans who run for Congress in 2006. It's a cool idea, and a great way to emphasize that the military isn't an arm of the Republican party.

But aren't there females in the military? Aren't there female Democrat war veterans running for congress in 2006? Yeah, I thought so. What's depressing is that either no one considered the possibility of a female war veteran candidate, or they thought this wouldn't bother anyone. It bothers me. Ms. Duckworth is a war veteran and a woman, and she's faced with an unfair situation here. She either has to not participate or pretend to be one of the boys. Serving in the military has not made her any more male. It has demonstrated that she has some characteristics traditionally assigned to men - heroism, discipline, and physical strength. She's also demonstrated that assuming that these characteristics are the sole domain of men is preposterous. Calling this organization Band of Brothers obliterates that message, and insults the courage and hard work it took her to demonstrate it.

While I'm on the subject, I should point out that Broadsheet recently shed (a little bit) of light on Duckworth's views on choice. A quote:

"I think that most people in our district think it's not the place of government to make that wrenching personal decision between a woman and her doctor. We need to increase the amount of information about adoption out there."

While it doesn't sound like she's very comfortable with the idea of abortion, she certainly doesn't sound like she's about to make the decision for anyone else. I'm not going to demand that lawmakers are cuckoo for abortion, as long as they allow it to remain legal, so I find this to be a satisfactory response.