No…we’re not talking about America’s merriest, happy warrior-in-chief.
Toni Morrison named Bill Clinton America’s first “black” president in the same sense that Barack Obama is being heralded by Newsweek (are they merely trying to compete with Time’s cover?) as America’s first “gay” president. But who was America’s first actual gay president? It certainly wasn’t Abraham Lincoln.
Meanwhile back on the Tinseltown farm last night…
The Campaigner-in-chief comes out of the closet to milk the celebrity cash cows:
Good question: Why is President Obama still “evolving” on gay marriage?
I guess the addiction to decisively voting “present” is still a tough option to let go…
Leftists and conservatives will all argue that they support the freedom to live their lives as they choose. Like anything else in life, the devil is in the details and when you probe further you find a fundamental difference in what is defined as freedom.
The gay marriage bill in the Washington State Legislature specifically claims to protect religious freedom. HB 2516/SB 6239 bills itself as:
AN ACT Relating to providing equal protection for all families in Washington by creating equality in civil marriage and changing the domestic partnership laws, while protecting religious freedom…[Emphasis mine]
With “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” ending, the subject of gays serving in the military is making the discussion rounds again, and I thought this would be a good a time as any to chime in. Without going too deep into the issue the biggest arguments for and against break down into two main schools of thought. Those in favor of allowing gays to openly serve argue that we’re keeping qualified personnel from serving during a time of need and this is discrimination akin to racial integration in the military. Those against argue that the sexual element interferes with unit cohesion and creates an unnecessary distraction. Or to repeat a phrase that Rush Limbaugh likes to use, “the purpose of the military is to hurt people and to break things. It is not the place for a social experiment.”
It’s true I have snow on the roof year round, but the sap stays up year round. The young girls in diners and coffee shops smile and call me sir: oh, how I miss the days when they’d smile and wink. Yes, I am a senior citizen and I try to accept the sentence of life without parole with as much grace and dignity as possible. Despite my advanced years and a raven haired young beauty for a girl friend, I still admire the feminine form; just because you are on a diet doesn’t mean you can’t read the menu.
The Constitution is singularly the greatest document that has ever been written and has resulted in more good for more people around the world than any other single document of man in history. It’s not however perfect. It has an amendment process that allows citizens to make bad choices – see the 16th and 17th Amendments, both enacted in the midst of a progressive frenzy in 1913 – but such changes require the active participation of a large segment of the population.
Most conservatives are live-and-let-live types. The less government, the better; the less that the state regulates us, the better. For that reason, many conservatives have not put up much of a fight when it came to the abolition of sodomy laws; nor did we care much when gays wanted to “show their pride;” nor did many of us object to civil unions. For most of us, it was, “Fine, fine, do what you want.” However, we have come to find out that, each of these steps was not a pinnacle, but merely one step in a very long ladder. We have come to realize that, the legalization of gay marriage will not be the end of it either.
In 1994 Mr. Conservative himself, Mr. Republican, Barry Goldwater, said:
“You don’t have to like it, but gay people deserve full constitutional rights including marriage and service in the Military.”
He said it in Phoenix — after he had come to terms with his gay grandson.
