Tolerance In Action

The tolerance of the left rears it's ugly head again. This time in response to a resounding rejection by the voters. As a result of the passage of Prop. 8 by California voters, the GLBT community has gone off....on Mormon Temples across the country. Whether it is here in Utah, or California, or Seattle or in Colorado the people who demand that the rest of the world accept their "alternate lifestyles" are now engaging in the very same type of activity that brought hate crimes legislation to the lexicon. The following story was related to me by a friend. This happened to someone he knows who was in Los Angeles on Election Day.

As additional information for those who missed the news, I was at the temple assisting in the security efforts and it was quite an experience. Our temple is safe and no damage was done on the grounds.It was a site I never expected to see. At one point we had let in about 20 police vehicles through the gates because they were afraid their vehicles would be damaged as civilian cars were being vandalized. I removed the Utah plates from my truck just so I could drive through the mess and park blocks away. Two full squads of LAPD in riot gear set up their base inside the temple grounds while SWAT vehicles and hundreds of officers followed the crowds run up Santa Monica and Wilshire Boulevards. I've heard that the crowd was estimated to be over 2,500. The officers inside the temple grounds made a line on the front lawn by the fence. At one point, with 7 news and police helicopters overhead, the crowd began to climb the fence and it looked like there was going to be a lot of trouble.

We had, it seemed, a good fourth of a Polynesian ward there so it could have gotten very interesting very fast. While I was there, I was not aware of anyone actually breaching the fence, but we were asked to move far across the parking lot as they were anticipating the need to shoot tear gas canisters. I never thought I would see the day when police officers would sit perched on the spire of our temple as lookouts.

All of this happened at about 7:30 PM. It should be remembered that most likely many of the law enforcement were not in favor of our stance on Proposition 8, but nevertheless, the men and women were there doing their duty and protecting our property. For that we are grateful. And yes, there was an incident with some of our members who had gone to remove the protest signs from the front fence. One of the protesters did initiate physical contact with one of our sisters so the details are uncertain as to whether the response was fully justified. The lesson to be learned is that it's important to anticipate and avoid such confrontational situations.

Remember the world is watching our reaction and the media is everywhere. In the end, when we keep our cool, the video footage speaks the truth regarding which side is really intolerant and appears hateful when we simply do not respond or do so in a loving and controlled manner.

No matter your feelings about the Mormon Church (and I am no Mormon so I have no "dog" in this fight) they have the same rights to preach issues to their flock as the Catholic Church, the Baptist Church (where I belong) or any other church has. IF their flock goes out and acts on that teaching that is also their rights! As long as the Church is not advocating for or against a specific candidate they are well within their rights do to what they did.

If the GLBT community wants to be upset they should be upset at the voters of California. WE THE PEOPLE in California spoke - if the GLBT community does not like that maybe they should move to Massachusetts or something. But taking out their electoral loss is just as hate filled as anything they accuse others who do not approve of their "alternative lifestyles" of being.

It's Come To This...

If you are a Caucasian and you are NOT voting for Senator Barack Obama then you are a racist!

She's only 12 years old but Ashleigh Jones is feeling the heat of this election year.

That’s because the seventh grader at New Smyrna Beach Middle School was called a racist by classmates for wearing a pro-Sarah Palin t-shirt.

Jones is volunteering at the Republican Headquarters in New Smyrna Beach. The Palin t-shirt was a gift from her fellow volunteers.

But when she wore it to school she learned just how tough politics can be.

“Some of the students were calling me racist because I was Caucasian,” she said. “I wanted the Caucasian man to win. And I told them that’s not true...

Never mind the stark ideological differences between the two, in this politically correct society there is only one unacceptable "ism" any more. Don't think - just do what is politically correct. Welcome to the public schools of America.

And people wonder why some many more people are homeschooling .....

The Politics of Identity

Identity politics has been something that has been around for a long time. This year, however, it is getting a real workout with an Aftican American, a woman and a Hispanic in the race (ok - I realize that Richardson is formally out of the race but bear with me here). As a result there has been a lot of campaigning directed at specific "target groups" in order to woo them to cadidate A or Candidate B. I ran across a couple of interesting stories in the last two days about the machinizations of the campaigns in order to win these target groups over. The first was in the Washington Times (HT Poligazette)

Even here at Wellesley College, Hillary Rodham Clinton's alma mater and a historic bedrock of progressive feminist thought, support for the senator from New York hardly registers as unanimous. Instead, the election has inspired a debate at this women-only liberal arts college about what it means to be a feminist. Do you vote for a woman to shatter the glass ceiling and further the cause? Or do you make an empowered, individual decision that is not confined by gender?

As a Hispanic woman, daughter of the feminist movement, the answer to me is clear....you make the empowered, individual decision. A vote based strictly on gender is what the movement has been fighting for decades!

Rosa Brooks shows us (in the Los Angeles Times) that there are plenty of young people out there who are also making their choice based on issues, not race or gender.

"The number of inter-marriages has gone up dramatically over the last few decades, and as a consequence, so has the number of multiracial young Americans, who -- like Obama -- are neither this nor that, but a bit of this and bit of that, with a healthy dollop of something else. And regardless of their own status, younger Americans are more likely than older Americans to have dated inter-racially, to have close friends of other races and to live in families with relatives from other racial and ethnic backgrounds...Americans under 30 grew up in a world in which women are CEOs and secretaries of State, and in which women make up the majority of U.S. college students. And, as with race, most younger Americans can't see what the big deal is. Of course a woman can be president. Of course being tough -- or getting a little teary-eyed -- on the campaign trail doesn't make you more or less feminine, or more or less suited to power. For younger voters, "Do you think a woman or a black man could be a good president?" is the wrong question. As women and men increasingly work side by side and share power, as the U.S. becomes a more complex, multiracial and multiethnic nation, younger voters may increasingly be asking themselves a very different question: Can a middle-aged white guy possibly be qualified to lead us
into the future?

Ms. Brooks is correct when she says that the only people the race and gender issue seem to be important to is the media. That is one reason why the major media are becoming more and more irrelevant to the truly informed voters. Those folks are going to look at the pros and cons of ALL of the candidates and decide which candidate best represents their values.

Those that only look at the superficial - the race and gender of the candidate - need to ask themselves one very important question. Have I really learned the lessons of the past? Am I really judging the person on the content of their heart or just the color of their skin (or gender)? Sadly, I am afraid that as long as we have people like this (HT Capt Ed)...

If John Edwards stays in the race, he might, in the end, become nothing other than the Southern white man who stood in the way of the black man. And for that, he would deserve a lifetime of liberal condemnation.

we will have more focus put on the superficial and nothing put on the important issues of the day.