Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D.

Here.

To the Editor:

Re “Women in Combat Jobs” (editorial, Dec. 6): You write that the Pentagon’s announcement “will accelerate the dismantling of the last gender barriers.” The next barrier is the draft. If women are equal to men in rights, and I agree they are, then they must be equal in responsibilities.

Equality will be women being drafted in the same manner and number as men, if the need arises. Of course, some will be too small or weak, but with training, most will be an asset. Waiting to change the draft registration rules until women are needed will be too late and unfair to men.

HARRISON PICOT

Haymarket, Va.

Brasil (1987). I have loved this song from the moment I first heard it in 1987. "Whip up some steamin' jazz!"

I live in Fort Worth, Texas, near its border with Arlington. I moved into my house 23 years ago today, on 12 December 1992. This is by far the longest I've lived in one place. What's the longest you've lived in one place?

To the Editor:

“Cruz the Gruff Taking a Turn at Being Nice” (front page, Dec. 10) reports that Senator Ted Cruz’s “disposition has rarely been described warmly” and that making friends has been hard for him. That was never my experience of Ted Cruz.

We worked together as law firm associates during the 1990s, and I relished Ted’s company, as did our mutual colleagues. Your reporter might have been too quick to accept Ted’s self-deprecating remark that “if you want someone to grab a beer with, I may not be that guy.”

Back in the day, I had a few drinks with the man who is now the junior senator from Texas, and I highly recommend it. Just make sure you brush up on your constitutional law first. The conversation will be fascinating, but it will not be light.

KENNETH L. MARCUS

Washington

The writer is president and general counsel for the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law.

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This is the trail today in River Legacy Park (in Arlington, Texas). Click to enlarge. The weather was gorgeous. Today's 34 miles gives me 4,560.4 for the year. Rolling along.

Yesterday evening, Katherine and I watched The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001). I had never seen any of the Lord of the Rings movies (or read the books on which they are based). The reason we watched it is that we're watching the Academy Award-winning movies in chronological order, beginning with Midnight Cowboy in 1969. The third movie in the set won the Academy Award in 2003. (Jim Slagle told me that the award was really for all three movies.) Yes, we could have watched just the third movie, but I thought it would be best to watch all three, in the proper order; so I bought all three of them on DVD. It actually took three sittings to get through the first one, since it's so long (almost three hours).

Katherine told me not to be mean in my review, and she must be obeyed. How's this: This movie will appeal to people who like movies such as this one. It did nothing for me. I don't understand the compulsion to come up with all new place names and personal names. Frodo? Bilbo? Strider? Orcs? Please. Most of the dialogue was meaningless to me, even though I was wide awake while watching and had subtitles on the screen. About the only thing I found interesting was the scenery. Apparently, the movie was filmed in New Zealand, which is breathtakingly beautiful. We're going to take a break before watching the second movie in the series. We're in the middle of season four of 24.

Here is the trailer.

Harper Valley P.T.A. (1968).