To Be Or Not To Be - Gay

I've been watching the media agonizing over Supreme Court Justice nominee Elena Kagan's sexual preferences. Is she or isn't she? The same has been asked, without the fervor, of Janet Napolitano and Janet Reno. None have decided to say so everyone assumes they are. What does all this mean?

For one thing it dispels the myth that gays or lesbians are less able than the straight world! Heck, with the positions these three hold (or held) you might even say they are more able! I know, that's too much of a generalization. I also know it will be argued Ms. Kagan's sexual identity could influence her opinions on gay marriage and "don't ask, don't tell". Sure it will, just like Justice Sotomayor's ethnic background may influence her thinking on issues pertaining to Latinos. Or women's issues. Let's face it, who we are has a lot to do with how we think concerning just about everything. So why the big deal on sexuality?

It seems to me one's sexual preferences should be a most private matter unless the person wishes it known. It should not be a litmus test for anything. I've often felt the gay community would be a lot better off if they'd lay off the semantics and settle for substance but that doesn't seem to be their agenda. Equality at all cost. It's really all in a word.

I don't think even the "marriage is between a man and a woman" mantra holds the weight it once did when you have churches elevating gay clergy to high positions. The Episcopalians just ordained their first lesbian bishop!

Actually having gays and lesbians form marriage-like relationships isn't all bad. With the state of over population in the world, they are more likely to adopt than father or mother their own. Two mother and two father families takes a little getting used to, but if it's a loving family unit why not? It's happening so why not support it as you would an interracial family? The obstacles the children will face are not unalike!

Slowly the tide is turning and I expect it will continue to do so. What would be of great help is with all the DNA research that's being conducted, they would come up with a marker that identifies a homosexual gene. That would put the argument as to whether or not one is born "that way" to rest.

I happen to believe you are. I won't even begin to argue with anyone who disagrees. Until such a marker is found, either could be correct. In the meantime, why don't we just live and let live. It matters not if you're a potential Supreme Court Justice or the kid next door trying to figure it all out.

Heros? Bully!

I listened to the noon news with a sigh of resignation as the story about a Dallas cop unfolded. It seems a car rolled through a stop sign in the wee hours of the morning in a rush to get to the hospital. He pulled it over - in the hospital parking lot. The occupants explained they had gotten a call that the woman's mother was near death and they were trying to get to her.

No dice. He refused to let them go, demanding the usual, drivers license, registration, proof of insurance. Flustered, the man had trouble finding everything and finally the woman fled into the hospital, arriving in the nick of time. The man did not.

I don't understand the mentality it takes for these jobs. The man in question was a member of the Dallas Cowboys. Did the officer want to make a score to impress his buddies?

How many of you as a kid wanted to be either a fireman or a policeman? What has happened to them as role models? Well, in Spokane they can get away with egregious behavior and lose little more than their jobs - if that. We just had a case wrap up where a drunken off duty officer chased a young man through a neighborhood ultimately shooting him in the head. He claimed the young man tried to steal his truck.

He was acquitted and will receive back pay. In the infinite wisdom of the judge, the jury was not allowed to be told the young man had already been found not guilty of trying to steal the truck in a previous trial! Fellow officers cheered the outcome. The chief declared she believes in the process.

Then just this morning there was a story about a former firefighter being convicted of assault. This is his second go round. The first, which cost him his job, was having sex with a sixteen year old in the firehouse and taking pictures of the episode to boot. To make matters easier for him detectives had him erase the photos from his cell phone.

The firefighter said the sex was consensual. In the firehouse? With a sixteen year old? I realize that everyone under the age of 60 looks 16 to me, but the offender was around 35 at the time! And married. The prosecuting attorney said he could not file charges because the evidence had been destroyed.

So. What did he do that finally caught up with him? He bought another 16 year old girl bras and asked her to model them in the adult care home run by his wife. He then fondled her, straddled her on a bed while giving her a massage. This time the charges stuck. His wife lost the license for her facility and he must have a psycho sexual evaluation. Do you think?

If soap opera writers ever get stuck for material for story lines they need but search the archives of the local paper for stories galore. This, unfortunately, is just one more in what seems to be a constant parade of deviant behavior.

Police and firemen are supposed to be our hero's! They're supposed to save lives, not ruin them!

As for the attorneys, the judges and the juries? That's another post after I get the distaste from this one out of my mouth!

Tunnel Vision And Sexism

A columnist for the Coeur d'Alene Press authored a bitter and scathing column on Sunday entitled Sexism is alive and well in America . I couldn't disagree with her more. Two political candidates, Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin, lost their bids for the highest and second highest office in the land. One had insurmountable baggage, some of her own making, some of her husband's. The other was ill prepared for the position she willingly entered into.

It's easy to say race triumphed over gender and to blame the media but neither is true. Hillary may well have persevered had she had not had that baggage and had she had control of her campaign. Sarah Palin too could have persevered had she known her geography, known what periodicals she supposedly read and hadn't tried to be too cute by half. Listen to the interviews where she was overly familiar especially with "Charlie" Gibson and "Joe" Biden in the debate. Not to mention the lack of substance in all her interviews.

Yes the press picked up on every bit of news it could find about her. That it called into question her parenting skills or talked of her once being a beauty queen or that the campaign spent a small fortune to dress her is all true. It was part of letting the voters know what a total stranger who sought to be a heartbeat away from the Presidency was all about. That she was ridiculed on comedy shows? No one made her appear on "Saturday Night Live". If she hadn't anticipated the "heat" it is no one's fault but her own.

I'm not saying she is not a capable young woman. She obviously has potential, but for the moment that's what it is - potential.

To use those two incidents, however, to assert that sexism is alive and well is an insult to all the women who are high level achievers outside the realm of politics. Take the women written about in yesterday's Wall Street Journal article entitled The 50 Women to Watch - 2008 . Excluding women from other countries, here are a few of our own. Irene Rosenfeld, Chief Executive, Kraft foods; Sheila Bair, Chairman, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.; Indra Nooyi, Chairman and Chief Executive, Pepsico; Ellen J. Kullman, President and designated Chief Executive, Dupont; Anne M. Mulcahy, Chairman and Chief Executive, Xerox; Ursula M. Burns, President, Xerox; Patricia Woertz, Chief Executive Officer, Archer-Midland Daniels...and so many more.

Sorry, but Hillary's "Sisterhood of the Travelling Pantsuit" is alive and well. The glass ceiling has been shattered again and again by hard work, tenacity, and ability. The revolution continues. Nancy Pelosi as the first female Speaker of the House. How many women serve in Congress and as Governors?

Sexism or the lack of it should not be judged by the failure of the overly ambitious but rather by the accomplishments of the many truly capable.