<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?><?xml-stylesheet href="http://www.blogger.com/styles/atom.css" type="text/css"?><feed xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom' xmlns:openSearch='http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearchrss/1.0/'><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17182154.post1192404641463491915..comments</id><updated>2008-10-04T11:06:03.168-05:00</updated><title type='text'>Comments on Skipping to the Piccolo: Sarah Palin: wrong for any job, especially as Vice...</title><link rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#feed' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.skippingtothepiccolo.com/feeds/1192404641463491915/comments/default'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/17182154/1192404641463491915/comments/default'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://www.skippingtothepiccolo.com/2008/10/sarah-palin-wrong-for-any-job.html'/><author><name>David W. Shelton</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/17992943110923021029</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email></author><generator version='7.00' uri='http://www.blogger.com'>Blogger</generator><openSearch:totalResults>2</openSearch:totalResults><openSearch:startIndex>1</openSearch:startIndex><openSearch:itemsPerPage>25</openSearch:itemsPerPage><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17182154.post-7253917801187730698</id><published>2008-10-04T07:23:00.000-05:00</published><updated>2008-10-04T07:23:00.000-05:00</updated><title type='text'>I have one of my absolute best friends for the las...</title><content type='html'>&lt;I&gt;I have one of my absolute best friends for the last 30 years happens to be gay, and I love her dearly. And she is not my “gay friend,” she is one of my best friends, who happens to have made a choice that isn’t a choice that I have made. But I am not going to judge people.&lt;/I&gt;&lt;BR/&gt;&lt;BR/&gt;When I heard Mrs. "Joe Six Pack" talk about one of her best friends "who happens to have made a choice that isn’t a choice that I have made," and whom she says she has known for 3 decades or so, I had to wonder how--after all that time knowing her friend--she &lt;B&gt;still&lt;/B&gt; believes her friend actually &lt;B&gt;chose&lt;/B&gt; to be a lesbian.  I really don't get how people like Sarah Palin think that such an innate part of our human-ness, our sexual orientation, is subject to change on an apparent whim, akin to choosing a salad with the #7 combo instead of fries.  &lt;BR/&gt;&lt;BR/&gt;And her line that she's "not going to judge people"???  In my humble opinion, the mere fact that she asserts that we &lt;B&gt;chose&lt;/B&gt; something that is not choose-able &lt;B&gt;is&lt;/B&gt; a judgment.  Palin appears to couch her judgmental words in love &amp;amp; friendship, but the judgment still comes shining through.  As the old saying goes, you can put lipstick on a pig &amp;amp; it&amp;#39;s still a pig!&lt;BR/&gt;&lt;BR/&gt;I don&amp;#39;t know about Sarah Palin, or her friend, but, in my own life, I &lt;B&gt;never&lt;/B&gt; got the chance to choose to which gender I am attracted.  There never came a time in my life where I thought, "Hmmmm...which will it be?  Males or females??"  I can almost guarantee you that almost everyone (regardless of their orientation) would say the same thing.  If I ever &lt;B&gt;did&lt;/B&gt; have a choice, I&amp;#39;d have to be either psychotic or a sadist (or both) to choose a sexual orientation that I had to work so hard at hiding &amp;amp; which would cause me to be treated like a second-class citizen &amp;amp; that would put me at odds with the vast majority of others &amp;amp; cause people who don&amp;#39;t even know me to hate me &amp;amp; wish to do me harm &amp;amp; which would cause me to be subjected to such venom &amp;amp; such vilification by so much of society (especially by people I once considered my family in Christ).  &lt;BR/&gt;&lt;BR/&gt;How could I ever have had a choice &amp;amp; then intentionally choose the most difficult path, when being one of the &amp;quot;normal&amp;quot; people would have made my life so much easier &amp;amp; so much less painful???  Considering the foregoing, the idea that any kind of &amp;quot;choice&amp;quot; is involved where sexual orientation is concerned is ridiculous on its face.  I don&amp;#39;t know if Sarah Palin ever remembers having to make a choice to be attracted to male of the species at some time in her life or not, but I&amp;#39;d wager she would tell you she didn&amp;#39;t.  How typically hypocritical for people like her to say that they &lt;B&gt;never&lt;/B&gt; chose to be heterosexual, but that I &lt;B&gt;did&lt;/B&gt;  choose to be homosexual.  Can they not see how illogical that is, or do they just believe that logic is too science-y &amp;amp; too much of a threat to their obviously-adored dogma &amp;amp; preconceived notions??&lt;BR/&gt;&lt;BR/&gt;I have to wonder if Sarah &amp;amp; friends ever even really pay attention to the words coming out of their own mouths, or if it&amp;#39;s just an automated party-line response to which they don&amp;#39;t even give a second thought. To be fair, a second thought implies that they were &lt;B&gt;thinking&lt;/B&gt; in the first place.  My bad.  :-/&lt;BR/&gt;&lt;BR/&gt;Ultimately, I know that people like Sarah Palin &lt;B&gt;have&lt;/B&gt; to cling for dear life to this old, discredited line that we are choosing to be something we really aren't, because if they ever admitted that we &lt;B&gt;didn't&lt;/B&gt; choose our sexual orientation, then they&amp;#39;d have to admit that--like the heteros--we are who God made us, and that it&amp;#39;s all about how our hearts work and not how our genitals work.  Then they&amp;#39;d have to deal with all the guilt I&amp;#39;d at least hope they&amp;#39;d have over the real harm &amp;amp; real pain they&amp;#39;ve caused so many of us.&lt;BR/&gt;&lt;BR/&gt;Maybe that thought is just too much for them to bear.  Maybe it&amp;#39;s just easier for them to &lt;B&gt;choose&lt;/B&gt; to  continue to spread lies &amp;amp; misconceptions about non-heterosexuals.&lt;BR/&gt;&lt;BR/&gt;It&amp;#39;s apparently one of the things that Sarah Palin &lt;B&gt;has&lt;/B&gt; chosen to do.</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/17182154/1192404641463491915/comments/default/7253917801187730698'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/17182154/1192404641463491915/comments/default/7253917801187730698'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://www.skippingtothepiccolo.com/2008/10/sarah-palin-wrong-for-any-job.html?showComment=1223122980000#c7253917801187730698' title=''/><author><name>Mr. C</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/17457508599204395576</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email></author><thr:in-reply-to xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0' href='http://www.skippingtothepiccolo.com/2008/10/sarah-palin-wrong-for-any-job.html' ref='tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17182154.post-1192404641463491915' source='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/17182154/posts/default/1192404641463491915' type='text/html'/></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17182154.post-7257338719090570286</id><published>2008-10-02T20:56:00.000-05:00</published><updated>2008-10-02T20:56:00.000-05:00</updated><title type='text'>Hi David, Before you get too excited with Obama, p...</title><content type='html'>Hi David,&lt;BR/&gt; &lt;BR/&gt;Before you get too excited with Obama, please do a little research into his voting history, his bill sponsorship and presentation and, as a matter of public record, his doublespeak when it comes to our rights.  He strums a good song for the GLBT community, sitting pretty on LOGO and smiling for the cameras.  His previous actions belie his words however.  &lt;BR/&gt; &lt;BR/&gt;He spins a tale of “compassion” and “civil union marriage” (wtf?  Let’s combine terms now.)  He, like so many politicians, anticipates that the GLBT community will rise up and give a standing ovation to this Champion of Rights.  We, like the good Democrats that we are (forgive me for misspeaking, should you be a Republican) are lapping it up eagerly.  “The lesser of two evils!”&lt;BR/&gt;&lt;BR/&gt;Palin the Prude’s views appall me, however you and I know plenty of well-meaning Christians who can not seem to grasp the entire “I was born this way, get over it” concept.  We both frequent a certain chat room where there are raging fundies that are nothing but a discredit to Christ.  There are also those fundamental Christians who steadfastly believe that orientation is a choice.  Those Christians do not hiss and regard us as plague carriers.  They accept us with the love of Christ.  They do not inflict their beliefs on us unless we ask them to discuss what they believe.&lt;BR/&gt;&lt;BR/&gt;If we must discount Palin, let us do so because of her stumbling, confusing naiveté.  She may not be the sharpest tack in the box but she can be taught. We do not know if she is a raging fundy bent on gay annihilation or if she is simply a woodland frump who really hasn’t bothered to delve into orientation.  People &lt;I&gt;ask&lt;/I&gt; her what she believes but they don’t ask her what she intends to do.  Such a clever ploy.  The republicans did it to Obama when Wright’s prejudices were revealed. &lt;BR/&gt;&lt;BR/&gt;I do not support her or her views.  I am at the point where I refuse to support either party.  I have followed Obama for a while and I have not been pleased by his pathetic efforts.  I’m not pleased with McCain either. &lt;BR/&gt;&lt;BR/&gt;Thanks for allowed me the opportunity to speak my mind.  Your readers may disagree with my opinion and that is fine.  Opinions are like............... belly buttons.......... and everyone has one.  haha  &lt;BR/&gt;&lt;BR/&gt;&lt;BR/&gt;Please forgive any typos.  &lt;BR/&gt;&lt;BR/&gt;&lt;BR/&gt;Some info here:&lt;BR/&gt;http://musing85.typepad.com/blog/2008/01/obama-on-gay-ri.html</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/17182154/1192404641463491915/comments/default/7257338719090570286'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/17182154/1192404641463491915/comments/default/7257338719090570286'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://www.skippingtothepiccolo.com/2008/10/sarah-palin-wrong-for-any-job.html?showComment=1222998960000#c7257338719090570286' title=''/><author><name>Autrice DelDrago</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/03143205295749068093</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email></author><thr:in-reply-to xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0' href='http://www.skippingtothepiccolo.com/2008/10/sarah-palin-wrong-for-any-job.html' ref='tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17182154.post-1192404641463491915' source='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/17182154/posts/default/1192404641463491915' type='text/html'/></entry></feed>