Intolerance or just being honest…depends on your position

A few short days ago Miss California found that stating her true feelings and expressing her convictions may not always be accepted. She learned the stark reality that sometimes you get negative attention for standing on your beliefs. She’ll find in days to come that some may pull away from her for allowing her morality to mold her responses. Unfortunately she’ll learn the hard fast lesson that intolerance doesn’t go both ways.

I’m not a pageant watcher by any means [real talk], part of the reason is some of the canned responses to the questions posed to the contestants and the insincere premise of the whole thing. Besides, there may be something else on more interesting. You know something where someone is getting shot, stabbed, kidnapped, or blown up [lol]. However, I was taken aback when I heard of the backlash and controversy surrounding the response that Carrie Prejean, Miss California gave when asked whether she thought the decision on gay marriage should be left up to the states [thanks Clark Kent]. Her response wasn’t something that the person asking the question was prepared for. Perez Hilton, the self proclaimed gossip queen, an openly gay man, asked her this loaded question. I suppose the he assumed that because she is from California that she’d have another response. I'd venture to assume that he thought he was lofting a softball for her to grandstand and talk baout how she supports the union of men with men and women with women. HA! Much to his chagrin, she did what not too many other contestants do, she shared her personal belief and opinion. In other words, she actually answered a question.

Since then, she’s been lambasted, ridiculed, and hilton has berated her [complete with obscenities and harsh insults] on his personal blog. I believe she ought to be applauded for speaking her mind and not saying, ‘…I believe we should have world peace…’ or ‘I’d like to abolish poverty in the world…’ While I still won’t be watching any pageants anytime soon, I applaud her for doing something on a televised, highly media driven stage, that many don’t do in their personal lives for fear of backlash or having people look at you funny, she stood on her principals and stated a position!

I do, however, have a greater concern. I wonder? Had she answered the question the opposite way and said she’s fully in support of gay marriage...as a matter of fact my best friend is gay [okay maybe not the last part], would there be as much of an issue be made of her response. We all know that there wouldn’t be anyone to say anything at all. They'd talk about how smart she is and how she's so open. Here’s the issue, if you offend the gay community look out. They come after you full force and don’t believe in fighting fair. They say there’s nothing like a woman scorned I beg to differ…try pissing off a punk [I’m just sayin].

Case and point, proposition 8 in California; they got it on the ballot, the people voted, gay marriage wasn’t made legal. That’s the way things work in a democracy. That wasn’t good enough for them. They started picketing churches, blaming blacks and Hispanics for voting it down, and even took it to the state supreme court. We live in a democracy…we decide things by voting. Unless it doesn’t go their way…or the response isn’t what they want to hear…then it’s intolerance.

For too long, people in general and Christians in particular have allowed our beliefs, teachings, rituals, etc to be trampled on and said nothing about it for fear of being labeled intolerant or bigoted. I, for one, stand up and applaud Carrie Prejan for stating your opinion, not to offend, not to belittle, not to be malicious, but BECAUSE YOU WERE ASKED!

To Mr/Miss [or whatever you are] Perez Hilton, I say DON’T ASK A QUESTION YOU AREN’T PREPARED TO HEAR THE ANSWER TO!!!

Kgalema Motlanthe said it best, “You can’t improve any situation by staying away from it.” Stand up, state your position and be ready to herald and defend it against the world.


It’s just my opinion, but I’m Not Wrong!

Tragic situation, may cause tragic reaction

It wasn’t a great feeling to wake up this Saturday morning, I was taken aback by reports of three police officers losing their lives in Pittsburgh at the hands of an extremist idiot; a man who shot police like dogs in the street when they responded to a domestic disturbance call. This after trying to absorb the carnage left in New York with an immigrant taking the lives of 13 other people, before killing himself after barricading the back door of the community center with his car before entering and opening fire. This not a week removed from Oakland police officers losing their lives at the hands of another man who made the wrong decision. Unfortunately in coming weeks you will see the flags of those who desire to create new gun legislation waving. They'll be calling for lawmakers to make new laws, ban more guns and make it harder for law abiding citizens to defend themselves.

Anyone who knows me [or has read my previous musings] knows I am an advocate of gun rights while at the same time being an advocate of personal responsibility. Decreasing the availability of firearms to those who are law abiding will not solve our issues in this country. I am a firm believe that every law abiding citizen who desires to, should be able to carry a handgun on their person wherever they go. I personally believe that this would decrease crime so much so that many criminals would have to go and get a job. Now, in the case of these idiots, just as in the Virginia Tech and Columbine situations, these were crazy for real. They just wanted to kill some people. Having an armed citizenry would only have stopped them before they killed more. Again, more lives saved! Look, I know there are those who believe that no one should own a gun, there are those who believe that only the police and military should have them; but we have to decide if we want to live in reality or fantasy. In a utopian society we would have no need for guns, or police, or military for that matter. In reality, we live in a society where other people live whose morals and principles are not necessarily like ours.

I was ecstatic on Sept 1, 2008. Why you ask. That day in the state of Texas, the 'Castle Doctrine' took effect. Let me explain what this means. If someone breaks into my home, I am allowed by law to put a bullet in him and have no fear of being sued by the family of the intruder, or him for that matter if he lives. It basically states, that your home is your castle and you have the right to defend it against those who might mean you no good. It further allows for your vehicle to be, in essence, an extension of your home and allows you to carry a handgun in your vehicle as long as you meet 3 simple criteria: 1. It is concealed 2. You are not in the commission of a crime 3. You are not on a gang/organized crime watch list or associate. I don't have an issue with this. However, some people do and this portion of the bill is being contested by some lawmakers. You see, I've always had issue with having to determine if someone who has broken into my home in the middle of the night is armed before engaging him. Now, all I need to do is put my hands on my 45.


Let's not handle this in the wrong manner. There are between 43 and 55 million households in this country that own guns, that’s almost 250 million guns. Even if you add up all of the murders in the US for the last year that’s wouldn’t add up to half a percent of those person. Don’t get me wrong, these are tragic events that should never happen, but taking drastic actions is not the answer. Let’s think about it…if their logic is correct, we should ban cars because auto accidents kill more people annually than guns. We should also ban alcohol because DWI accidents add more deaths as well. We have some great laws on the books…how about enforcing them? Then we can see what's needed in addition to that. Emotional or logical…reality or fantasy…solution or reaction? I wonder which we'll see from lawmakers. Unfortunately with a democratic powerbase running the country right now, I think it'll be an emotional reaction to a perceived fantasy.

It's Just My Opinion, But I'm Not Wrong.