By Crystal Laramore and Deborah K. Martin
People are always asking me how I come up with stuff to write about week after week after week. Are you kidding me? I can barely contain myself sometimes. Especially in the cultural and political climate today!
My thoughts at this moment are:
I am outside on my patio piddling (a Texas word) around and listening to all the controversy surrounding a beauty queen, another kind of queen and a question. Last week the Miss USA beauty pageant was held as usual but the outcome was anything but normal. By the time it was over all hell had broken loose in the media over one question and its answer. What was the question? “Do you believe in gay marriage?”
Believe it or not this question does not have a right or wrong answer like “Is 2+2=4?” There are still quite a few subjects we have a perfect right to disagree on without fear of being criticized, ostracized or blacklisted. Aren’t there? Do we have to water down all our opinions these days for fear of offending someone out there???
The smarmy weasel who asked the question was none other than Perez Hilton, a BLOGGER, for Pete’s sake. His name isn’t even Hilton, its Mario Armando Lavandeira, Jr. Exactly what ARE his credentials for judging beauty pageants anyway? He asked a question whose answer he almost certainly already knew. The fact that Miss California is a conservative Christian was well known and he HAD to know this would stir up controversy but he asked it anyway. The little twerp didn’t really want to know what she thought. This was ALL about HIM, and his political agenda.
My gay friend Marty Morales said this: “Perez Hilton did not speak for the whole gay community when he verbally attacked Miss California. Miss California spoke her mind. Is there something wrong with that? Whatever happened to just being you? Good for Miss California for being herself, regardless if I agreed or disagreed with her answer.” Thanks, Marty. Your tolerance is showing, as well as your integrity.
Miss California valued her integrity and her faith more than she valued a crown and a title. Her reply was her opinion based on principles she believes in and frankly a lot of other Americans do as well. No offense to anyone, but marriage HAS a definition. In my New Webster’s Dictionary and Thesaurus marriage is defined thusly: mar-riage n. the institution under which a man and a woman become legally united on a permanent basis.
Now, being that it is 2009 and we are as tolerant as we are I did NOT find that definition on my Microsoft Word dictionary…hmmmm. Seems the definition has changed to “a legal relationship between spouses”. My favorite definition was number 2. specific marriage relationship: a married relationship between two people, or a somebody’s relationship with his or her spouse.
From where I sit high upon my writer’s pedestal I have a few things to say about this:
First of all if you are gay, straight or crooked, I don’t care. There are many gay people, male and female alike, in my circle of influence from family members to customers to great friends; NONE of whom care, or seem to care, what term is given to the union with their partner. So what is all the fuss about on the news and in congress and on the internet? Well, it’s just like anything, there are those on the fringes of all cultures, in all sectors of society, that just cannot relax and let folks be. They scream that they want us to be tolerant but that happens to be the last thing they are. Tolerant, I mean.
But here’s this guy on Utube calling Miss California a cu*t! Are you kidding me? And you wonder why our tolerance is dwindling away. Or do you really?
Once again, marriage has a definition. Let it go. Get another definition for a union between two people who happen to be of the same sex. WE DON”T CARE!!!! Most of us love you no matter what race, religion or sex you happen to be. And, as far as your sexual preferences we straight people really don’t care. Most of us. Again, there are some on the fringes…but don’t worry about the fringes. If you please them on one issue, there will always be another issue for them to gripe about.
You know, I've had a question for gay/lesbian folks for some time. Perhaps some of our readers are of the gay/lesbian persuasion and can enlighten me. Why is it that militant gay people seem to be so defined by their sexuality? I'm straight and no one cares about my sex life. Why should I care about yours? Aren't we ALL more than that part of our lives which takes up so little actual time? I'm just curious.
Back to other issues; I can see a legitimate issue for gay couples. When my gay friend Marty had surgery, the hospital staff didn’t want his partner, Shaun Carter, to come back to support him while he was waiting. Why? He wasn’t “family”. Actually, this can be an issue for straight couples sometimes. Sandra Bullock was asked why she married Jesse James and her answer was a light bulb moment for me. He had a motorcycle accident and as he was being put into the ambulance she realized just how powerless she was. Here they were, partners for life, but she had no legal rights whatsoever in determining his care, simply because they were not legally married.
That’s the complaint I hear from gay and lesbian friends and I have to agree. We can call the institution something else if we want to. We can disagree on whether it’s “right” to be gay. We can disagree on whether people were born that way or “made” gay at some point. Meanwhile, many people make a lifetime commitment without the ability to make life and death decisions for and with the person who means more to them than anyone else. Is that fair?
There are people of integrity on both sides of this issue and then there are others who use their status as a bludgeon against those who disagree. Seems like my friends Sean & Marty and Miss California have a lot in common even though they are on opposite sides of this issue. She stated that her answer was her opinion and though she didn’t wish to offend anyone and wasn’t angry with anyone, she had to be true to herself. Marty confirmed that he believed in her right to her opinion (and maybe even the crown?) even if he didn’t agree. He didn’t withhold approval of her just because he disagreed with her.
And in the end it doesn’t matter of Perez Hilton is gay or straight. He’s a sleazy opportunist and don’t we have those in every sector of society? Doesn’t sleaze cross all sectors of society? Likewise, don’t we have courageous role models who are male, female, gay, straight, black, white, Christian, Muslim, atheist? I haven’t always held a high opinion of beauty queens but this year I’m glad one had the poise and courage to speak up for what she believed in. We should all try to follow her example; gay, straight OR crooked!
Showing posts with label Rush Limbaugh. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rush Limbaugh. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Tea Anyone?
By Crystal Laramore
While I lived in the big metropolis of Houston, politics didn’t really enter my life in a tangible way, but I never turned the radio off of Rush from 11 am to 2 pm. And the dedication paid off. Several years ago I left the big city and the big corporate paycheck and headed east where the pine trees grow a hundred feet tall and the locals have been round these parts for as many years. I be-bopped into this whisper of a town with big city ideas and an “I can do anything I want b/c I’m an American” big city attitude. I bought a building on the courthouse square (no sense making a ripple, splashes are more fun), turned it into a restaurant and applied for a liquor license…
…Stay tuned.
…During the time we (my customers and I) were applying for a private club license so we could all have a glass of wine or adult beverage with our dinner, I learned a lot about politics; especially small-town politics. I also learned that what people want far out weighs what is legal in some cases. People behave in the strangest of ways when what they want is not what is right. It’s that feeling thing we so often discuss. Obtaining a private club license in my restaurant was/is 100% legal. But that did not matter. What the locals wanted is what mattered. Never mind what the majority wanted. Never mind what the majority tax payers wanted. Never mind the law. Never mind capitalism. Never mind…Never mind…We had the right, under law, to do what we were doing. And we won. But we had to suffer expenses and lost revenue in the mean-time. But, we won.
When people are making decisions and laws based on feelings bad things can and do happen. Laws were made and passed to stop the change. Lies were told. Secret meetings were held. Illegal meetings were held. More lies were told, ON THE RADIO! Good thing I was the host! Snicker. Else, I would not have been able to defend myself against blatant lies, told to stop a legal event, b/c some (very few) people did not want it to occur. Basically, relatively good people did some bad things. Emotions got in the way of logic. Happens all the time. Happening today.
Now, back to feelings and national politics:
What is going on now on a national level is no different than that tiny event that occurred on a local level. Just more people care now. Thank God! But, sometimes, we don’t win. Do you feel like we are winning now? Today?
And no, I did not vote for the saxy jazz musician, but a lot of people did. At the end of the day I just wanted to be safe. It was a matter of national security for me. At the end of the day more people just wanted to feel…good? Apparently a lot of people voted based on the warm fuzzy feeling Clinton gave them. Apparently they thought he was in touch, too. Snicker. He was in touch all right. Apparently feelings outweighed thoughts and those who voted for him suspended their thought process; which means they had to possess it at some point…hmmm.
On a regular basis people ask me what I think about politics or specific candidates. I have a lot to say about that considering my background and my own personal fights, but my answer to them is “What do YOU think”? Seriously, unless I know they have researched the subject themselves, I’m not giving away all my knowledge. I’ll debate someone b/c maybe I will learn something myself, but I’m not just giving up all my hours of research and study time, all my “Rush” hours. That’s like giving someone who hasn’t studied a lick the answers on the final college exam. Not liberal. No level playing fields. Not happening.
Now, if they just don’t know cuz they’re lost, that's a different story. That's when I send them to Rush, Hannity, O’Reilly and Fox News in general. I steer them away from their network news and explain to them that just b/c it’s on television or in print does not mean it’s the truth. Nooooo. Yeeeessssss. My very own flesh of my flesh, blood of my blood, mother once belonged in this category. She once exclaimed (during the first Clinton era) while I was berating the imbecile for lying about “have sexual relations with that woman, Monica Lewinsky” and berating the news network for spinning the story, “Crystal Lee (I’m from the south, our middle names end in vowels so our moms can scream for/at us ad-nauseum) it is on TV. They can’t lie on TV!!" OMG! Rush had often mentioned people like this. I just didn’t know I was kin to any of them! And so closely kin…crap.
Journalism has become somewhat of an ugly term in the conservative vocabulary. Words do not mean anything anymore. The liberal or, as Rush says “The drive-by media” no longer value the truth. I’m not sure they (the liberal media) value much of anything except maybe seeing their name in print. This assault on truth in the written form can be witnessed from the smallest of newspapers/journals all the way up to the mega-media giants.
When did spinning something go from yarn to truth? When did what we want start prevailing over what is true and right? When this assault on what is right happens in small doses, we don’t hear much about it therefore, we don’t DO much about it, maybe that is why we are in the mess we are in right now. And we are in a mess. Our politicians are NOT doing the work of the people. Not the majority anyway. They are doing the work of the lazy. They are taking from the working people and giving to the lazy. And the working people are fed up. Tea anyone?
My AC and UB are living in Colorado Springs, Colorado where most people are conservative but something weird is happening in Denver. People in Denver are volunteering to have electricity meters in their home! You know, to measure how much they are using when. I can guarantee you there will NOT be one in the Laramore home!
We all wonder how far our President, our Speaker of the House and Harry Reed want to take their agenda? Wonder if they realize every red-blooded, Christian, conservative, born in the U.S.A., flag-waving, gun-toting, Bible thumping person we/they know is buying ammo, with cash, whenever/wherever they can. Wonder if they are paying attention to the murmmers and the discontent of the majority of this country? Wonder if they realize even folks who voted for Obama is against his far-left agenda? Wonder how they like their tea?
Like so many things in life sometimes you have to fall all the way down to get back up. Many people become Christians this way. They try things their way for awhile and when they are all the way down, with nowhere else to turn, they call on God. My AC (aunt Cheryl Laramore) and I were debating this issue just yesterday. I said maybe God knows what he’s doing…duh! Maybe we needed to get this far down in our country to be able to get back up. It’s like God is saying “You want a country without religion? You want a country that is ‘tolerant’? You want to keep prayer out of school? Really? Well, here’s what it looks like. Have a nice day”.
While I lived in the big metropolis of Houston, politics didn’t really enter my life in a tangible way, but I never turned the radio off of Rush from 11 am to 2 pm. And the dedication paid off. Several years ago I left the big city and the big corporate paycheck and headed east where the pine trees grow a hundred feet tall and the locals have been round these parts for as many years. I be-bopped into this whisper of a town with big city ideas and an “I can do anything I want b/c I’m an American” big city attitude. I bought a building on the courthouse square (no sense making a ripple, splashes are more fun), turned it into a restaurant and applied for a liquor license…
…Stay tuned.
…During the time we (my customers and I) were applying for a private club license so we could all have a glass of wine or adult beverage with our dinner, I learned a lot about politics; especially small-town politics. I also learned that what people want far out weighs what is legal in some cases. People behave in the strangest of ways when what they want is not what is right. It’s that feeling thing we so often discuss. Obtaining a private club license in my restaurant was/is 100% legal. But that did not matter. What the locals wanted is what mattered. Never mind what the majority wanted. Never mind what the majority tax payers wanted. Never mind the law. Never mind capitalism. Never mind…Never mind…We had the right, under law, to do what we were doing. And we won. But we had to suffer expenses and lost revenue in the mean-time. But, we won.
When people are making decisions and laws based on feelings bad things can and do happen. Laws were made and passed to stop the change. Lies were told. Secret meetings were held. Illegal meetings were held. More lies were told, ON THE RADIO! Good thing I was the host! Snicker. Else, I would not have been able to defend myself against blatant lies, told to stop a legal event, b/c some (very few) people did not want it to occur. Basically, relatively good people did some bad things. Emotions got in the way of logic. Happens all the time. Happening today.
Now, back to feelings and national politics:
What is going on now on a national level is no different than that tiny event that occurred on a local level. Just more people care now. Thank God! But, sometimes, we don’t win. Do you feel like we are winning now? Today?
And no, I did not vote for the saxy jazz musician, but a lot of people did. At the end of the day I just wanted to be safe. It was a matter of national security for me. At the end of the day more people just wanted to feel…good? Apparently a lot of people voted based on the warm fuzzy feeling Clinton gave them. Apparently they thought he was in touch, too. Snicker. He was in touch all right. Apparently feelings outweighed thoughts and those who voted for him suspended their thought process; which means they had to possess it at some point…hmmm.
On a regular basis people ask me what I think about politics or specific candidates. I have a lot to say about that considering my background and my own personal fights, but my answer to them is “What do YOU think”? Seriously, unless I know they have researched the subject themselves, I’m not giving away all my knowledge. I’ll debate someone b/c maybe I will learn something myself, but I’m not just giving up all my hours of research and study time, all my “Rush” hours. That’s like giving someone who hasn’t studied a lick the answers on the final college exam. Not liberal. No level playing fields. Not happening.
Now, if they just don’t know cuz they’re lost, that's a different story. That's when I send them to Rush, Hannity, O’Reilly and Fox News in general. I steer them away from their network news and explain to them that just b/c it’s on television or in print does not mean it’s the truth. Nooooo. Yeeeessssss. My very own flesh of my flesh, blood of my blood, mother once belonged in this category. She once exclaimed (during the first Clinton era) while I was berating the imbecile for lying about “have sexual relations with that woman, Monica Lewinsky” and berating the news network for spinning the story, “Crystal Lee (I’m from the south, our middle names end in vowels so our moms can scream for/at us ad-nauseum) it is on TV. They can’t lie on TV!!" OMG! Rush had often mentioned people like this. I just didn’t know I was kin to any of them! And so closely kin…crap.
Journalism has become somewhat of an ugly term in the conservative vocabulary. Words do not mean anything anymore. The liberal or, as Rush says “The drive-by media” no longer value the truth. I’m not sure they (the liberal media) value much of anything except maybe seeing their name in print. This assault on truth in the written form can be witnessed from the smallest of newspapers/journals all the way up to the mega-media giants.
When did spinning something go from yarn to truth? When did what we want start prevailing over what is true and right? When this assault on what is right happens in small doses, we don’t hear much about it therefore, we don’t DO much about it, maybe that is why we are in the mess we are in right now. And we are in a mess. Our politicians are NOT doing the work of the people. Not the majority anyway. They are doing the work of the lazy. They are taking from the working people and giving to the lazy. And the working people are fed up. Tea anyone?
My AC and UB are living in Colorado Springs, Colorado where most people are conservative but something weird is happening in Denver. People in Denver are volunteering to have electricity meters in their home! You know, to measure how much they are using when. I can guarantee you there will NOT be one in the Laramore home!
We all wonder how far our President, our Speaker of the House and Harry Reed want to take their agenda? Wonder if they realize every red-blooded, Christian, conservative, born in the U.S.A., flag-waving, gun-toting, Bible thumping person we/they know is buying ammo, with cash, whenever/wherever they can. Wonder if they are paying attention to the murmmers and the discontent of the majority of this country? Wonder if they realize even folks who voted for Obama is against his far-left agenda? Wonder how they like their tea?
Like so many things in life sometimes you have to fall all the way down to get back up. Many people become Christians this way. They try things their way for awhile and when they are all the way down, with nowhere else to turn, they call on God. My AC (aunt Cheryl Laramore) and I were debating this issue just yesterday. I said maybe God knows what he’s doing…duh! Maybe we needed to get this far down in our country to be able to get back up. It’s like God is saying “You want a country without religion? You want a country that is ‘tolerant’? You want to keep prayer out of school? Really? Well, here’s what it looks like. Have a nice day”.
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