<h3>Are Women Necessary?</h3>

New York Times all-round foxy chick and op-ed columnist Maureen Dowd's latest is garnering more attention for its cover than its content.

Pity. She's not a bad writer...for a girl.

But, yeah, in the light of her title, the question "Are women necessary?" does beg an answer.

To the rescue—bloodied, bowed, beaten, worn, bruised, tired and torn—rides the indefatigable Colonel Frank Paynter, a seasoned veteran of The Battle of the Sexes.

"So, whaddaya say Frankie, are the little wimmin necessary?"

"I guess we gotta give credit where it's due, Mike. I think we need 'em. Depends on your needs, of course, but one way or another..."

The colonel's eyes grew misty and I decided to leave it there. Heading over to the Happy Tutor's for a spliff and a spot of rumpty-tumpty later this evening, I found myself happily in agreement with the Colonel.

He'd knocked up a list of potential speakers who might have ignited Web 2.0—which looks like it probably turned into more of the same from the Old Farts Club, but weren't invited. Knowing the first three, I'd have to say that if it weren't for Jeneane Sessum, my first blog would never have flown; if it weren't for Shelley Powers, it would never have stayed up and, if it weren't for Leslie Winer, I'd not still get such a kick-ass thrill revelling in mind-blowing thought streams unavailable elsewhere.

Tech heads or not, these are among the hottest, most brilliant minds searing the Web into our global psyche. Gender has nothing to do with it. Take a stroll over to Madame Levy's and dip into her so-called novelnovel. It's drop-dead-shit-hot writing. You won't leave. Fuck... these bloggers are so far into the creative process I long ago stopped trying to cling to their shirttails, preferring instead to ride the magic of their slipstreams.

Were they to have addressed Web 2.0 on behalf of other women on my blogroll (and they've no need to—the likes of Meg, Kathryn, Tish, Yule, Olivia Meiring, etc. can speak for themselves), I'm pretty sure the others wouldn't have minded them doing so.

But for what?

Agh, never mind...I suppose, to those to whom this stuff matters, it's the thought that counts.

So what's Maureen Dowd's take on her question? I'd hoped it might be something along the lines of "No, but we'd sure miss them." But, opines the silver-tongued devil of the op-ed page, "My thesis is that feminism is dead" ... "That it's been trumped by narcissism and materialism, which are much more important 'isms' in the 21st century. I think it might be something that Rush Limbaugh would be interested in."

Or the chicks at Misbehaving.

I know that you're the queen, and I'm the slave, | And yet you will understand | That underneath it all | You're a maid, and I am only a man.

Maurice Chevalier | You Brought A New Kind Of Love To Me