Emperor's Rants and Observations

The prime time of Sarah Palin – THE WEEK

Palin is both comfortable and adept at these tabloid squabbles—certainly more than she seems ever likely to be in a substantive environment. Parrying political opponents about policy, or responding to serious queries about the state of the world is just not what Palin does. Even her attacks on President Obama have a canned quality, something along the lines of … “socialism, yadda yadda yadda.” She leaves the details to Romney or Huckabee or perhaps next week’s guest star.

Too good to not be repeated.Technorati Tags: Sarah Palin,

“All politics are local” is never more true than when the topic is Gay Rights it appears. It’s never more personal than when it touches you personally. One of my beautiful, smart, courageous daughters is a Lesbian and I believe she was born as such and is perfect. She is not a freak. She can’t be cured, nor does she have a disease. She is who she is, no better, no worse than anyone else of any sexual orientation.

Let’s end this nonsense about it being a choice or lifestyle. It’s not environment, none of my other children are Gay. It’s not choice, who would choose to subject themselves to such hate? It’s no more of a choice than heterosexuality is a choice. It can’t be cured. It’s not a mental defect. Looking back I thought she was just a tom boy. She stil gives me a hard time because I didn’t let her play hockey. It wasn’t because she was a girl, it was only because I thought she was too little compared to the other kids. Its not unnatural, homosexuality has been observed in more than 1,500 species. Christians tell me God doesn’t make mistakes.

You likely know someone who is Gay, even if you don’t know it. Yes, there are still plenty of people in the closet because they still fear the repercussions of coming out. As early as grade school, they learn the danger of being different than other students or even their teachers. Some live in fear of their parents because of the hateful things they say about homosexuals. I was guilty of that, before I learned my own child is Gay. If you think there is no need for this ordinance then you are just oblivious to the facts that there is still ignorance and hate directed at Gays in Anchorage.

Homosexuality is not a lifestyle. Homosexuals live in very diverse ways, just the same as heterosexuals. Just because heterosexuals are in the majority doesn’t mean they get to trounce on the rights of the minority.

The days of discrimination are clearly not over since we are having this discussion. This isn’t about feelings or perception. It’s about ensuring that people ofis any sexual orientation are treated without prejudice simply because of their sexual orientation. Our opinion of homosexuality is irrelevant. You don’t get to make the rules simply because you don’t like something. I don’t like broccoli, can I make it illegal to sell it or grow it?

The inequality of the law is that unlike others who are protected by law, homosexuals as a group are not.

Coming from a small business background myself, the arguments against the ordinance on behalf of small businesses are baseless. We know that we have to be careful and document everything when it comes to managing employees. This isn’t going to cause any new problems as long as businesses aren’t discriminating against people based on who they are.

I believe in freedom of religion. However, I also believe in freedom from religion. Most of the arguments that I have heard against the ordinance has been religious in nature. There is no legitimate legal argument for refusing people of all sexual orientations equal protection under the law. The fact that there is so much resistance to this ordinance is evidence of how much it is needed.

If your religious beliefs include that people of color are the spawn of the devil himself, then you should have the right to discriminate against them?

You know who else has that mindset? Islamic Jihadist. Is that really the kind of “freedom of religion” you want to be associated with?

You don’t have to like it. You don’t have to approve of it. You don’t have to endorse it. You don’t have to hold hands and sing Kumbaya with anyone.

Don’t let ignorance, hate and fear rot your soul, fog your mind or chill your heart. It’s time to let our Gay neighbors, friends, family and children know that they will be respected and protected from those that hate and worse than that hide behind religion to rationalize and justify their hate.

Our public discourse on a wide range of topics from local to world wide has been dominated by extremists – at both ends of the political spectrum. Too often we find ourselves talking to people that think and believe like us, share our personal values, instead of reaching out to people we don’t agree with. Not to argue. Not to denigrate and insult. Just to understand. Perhaps with more of us truly trying to understand opposing points of views, we may find that there are some things that we can agree on.

I bring this up because I came across a site through twitter that I expected to disagree with it it’s entirety. I was surprised that I found a lot that I could agree with. Sure there is more that I disagreed with, but I did get a better understanding about at least this one individual.

We often forget that writing of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution wasn’t without passionate disagreements from the wording to the substance. Instead of vilifying and condemning each other, they found a way to reach compromises that the majority could agree with. I wonder if we could do as well today.

Oh and that site I am talking about can be found here A Bold Step Back

My favorite Steven Covey Quote “Seek first to understand, the to be understood.”