Where's the Road Beef?

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/20/opinion/20dowd.html?th

February 20, 2005

Where's the Road Beef?
By MAUREEN DOWD

There have been a lot of gaffes about women lately.

And as Michael Kinsley trenchantly observed, a gaffe occurs not when somebody lies, but when he says what he really thinks.

We got a brutal glimpse into the thinking of a certain segment of the male species reading the transcript of the condescending musings of Harvard's president, Lawrence Summers, on the "intrinsic aptitude" and "variability of aptitude" of women.

Whatever point he was trying to make, he ended up making this one: It's not female aptitude that's the problem, it's male attitude. He confuses the roles society assigns to women with what women might really want. The "different socialization" Dr. Summers talks about may be getting worse, thanks to goofballs like him. How did he get to be head of Harvard anyway?

Good for Maureen. Every so often this needs to be said.

is the notion that one MUST work 80 hour weeks to be considered talented and successful and worthy of reward. I haven't seen Bush (or any GOP) actually work 80 hours (shmoozing and bluster don't count). And the engineers, nurses and teachers I've seen work 80 hours were still rewarded with layoffs.

If all those 80 hour jobs were converted to two 40 hour jobs, how much more likely that life would improve everywhere for everyone? Of course, then it would be hard to support crackpot ideas like Intelligent Design and other Right-Wing fantasies.