The Right Message

With all the scandals in Washington D. C. -- the IRS probe, Benghazi cover up, HHS Secretary Sebelius' solicitations for Obama care, and the Justice Department's seizure of phone records of AP and FOX reporters -- it's been hard to know what's going on in America's "District" these days.  Wait a few days, and new denials are sure to come out.

One thing you don't have to wait for is President Obama denying any involvement in any of them.  In fact, he's as surprised as the rest of us when someone leaks the latest scandal.  "This is the first I've heard of it" should become his official motto.  How is it possible the most powerful person in America doesn't know what's going on?  And why was he missing in action the night of the Benghazi attack?

As tempting as it would be to harness our energies against President Obama, I think it would be a big mistake to go after him.  With the midterm elections coming up in 2014, conservatives need to focus their message on one thing:  TRUST.

If we can get the American people to lose trust in Obama and other big government types, we might be able to save this county from an early demise.

In my job as a sales professional, trust is the one thing I have to work at everyday.  Every single time. If my clients lose trust in me or what I am saying, I will lose them as a customer.  And getting them back will be harder than ever (if not impossible).  We need to let the public see these scandals for what they are -- arrogance, abuse of power and in some cases, even criminal.

Take the IRS for example.  Nothing embodies BIG government -- and the abusive administrative state -- like the Internal Revenue Service.  They implement much of the country's social policy through a complicated set of tax codes which control every aspect of our personal and business lives.  The limitless power of the IRS makes it easy for them to snoop, harass and destroy lives.  The agency employs three times the number of people who work for the FBI and has detailed information on every taxpayer in the nation -- including your Social Security number and those of your children, every place you work, how much you make, what you invest in, with whom you do business, the cost of your mortgage and your financial account numbers.  And the IRS answers to no one.

People like President Obama -- who want to bring change to America -- use it to mold the fabric of our lives and to influence political decisions, appointments and elections (as was done through the harassment of conservative and Tea party non-profits).

Now that someone has leaked the truth about the IRS, what should we expect out of Washington?  Don't wait for the IRS to correct itself.  This week's hearings have shown the utter contempt and disrespect Steven Miller, Loris Lerner and Sarah Hall Ingram have for us.   These people have so much power that they don't have to offer any answers, apologies or resignations.  That's not right and the average voter needs to know it.  Tying Obama to the IRS scandal would be nice, but shedding light on big government agencies like the IRS is even better.

Another example should be made of the Justice Department and Eric Holder's involvement in the seizure of phone and email records of reporter's at Fox News and the Associated Press.

The Justice Department's investigations involved a Fox News report that described the thinking of U.S. intelligence officials about North Korea, and one about Associated Press stories that the government said compromised a covert agent helping U.S. forces against al Qaeda in Yemen.

On the heels of the failed "Fast and Furious gun-tracking operation, the Justice Department is a prime example of BIG government losing the trust of the American people.  Making this example even better is the concern coming out of the media and some moderate Democrats.

"It seems clear to me that the actions of the department have in fact impaired the First Amendment," Representative Zoe Lefgren, D-Cailforina, said earlier this month.  "Reporters who might have previously believed that a confidential source would speak to them would no longer have that level of confidence."

Holder's reaction is typical of how things are handled in Washington these days.  Initially claim ignorance, then claim it was a misunderstanding, then say it won't happen again.  Holder is typical of this government's refusal to take responsibility while shielding the president from further scrutiny.  As USA Today reported earlier this month, he is a "sin eater" for President Obama, shielding him from controversies involving the Justice Department, CIA and FBI.

Not surprising, the right is furious about this violation of our first amendment rights.  Fox News chief Roger Ailes responded to the Justice Department's investigation by condemning the Obama administration's choices.

Will justice be served?

"We reject the government's efforts to criminalize the pursuit of investigative journalism and falsely characterize a Fox News reporter to a Federal judge as a "Co-conspirator" in a crime.  I know how concerned you are because you have asked... why should the government make me afraid to use a work phone or email account to gather news or even call a friend or family member?"

Again, I wouldn't focus solely on Eric Holder, although he did personally approve of the search of Fox New's  reporter James Rosen.  Conservatives must educate the average voter that this administration's Justice Department represents government without restraint, willing to violate our first amendment rights without apology or regret.

What the Justice Department has done is really one of the biggest threat to journalism in more than 30 years.  With luck, more media types (NY Times, Washington Post, AP) will call them on it.

In the end, the question is whether Americans want to live and prosper in a free society.  What the Obama administration has done is demonstrate that government intervention threatens our liberties in multiple ways.  These scandals seize our resources to pay for his progressive ideology.  We we are able to see -- yet again -- that public officials are tempted to use their power to reward friends and punish enemies like the Tea Party and conservatives.

Most Americans agree that BIG government is not good.  As Obama's former chief of staff,  Rahm Emanuel, is famous for saying, we must not let this crisis (scandal) go to waste.   Those who favor a smaller government must make "trust" the cornerstone of next year's political elections.

Losing Our Way

A few weeks ago, Jason Collin's gay coming out party made the cover of "Sports Illustrated," and virtually every newscast on the planet.  Today's article by the reigning NFL's most valuable player, Adrian Peterson, barely made a ripple.

Peterson, a running back for the Minnesota Vikings, told Sirius/XM NFL Radio last week that gay marriage "was not something I believe in."  Peterson made his comments when asked about his thoughts on the Vikings cutting longtime punter Chris Kluwe, an outspoken advocate for gay rights and gay marriage.

Peterson has been kicking Packer butt for years.

While Peterson agreed that it hurt to see his good friend leave the Vikings, he made it clear he differs with the punter on the issue of gay marriage.

"To each his own, (but) I'm not with it," he said.  "I have relatives who are gay.  I'm not biased towards them and I still treat them the same.  I love them, but again -- I'm not into that.  That's not something I believe in.  But to each his own."

Peterson concluded with, "I'm sure the Vikings organization didn't release him based on (his outspoken nature).  They know Kluwe, and they've known him for a long time."

With Minnesota becoming the 12th state to legalize gay marriage, and set to begin conducting same-sex weddings on August 1, you would think this would be big news.  Predictably, it wasn't.  I stumbled upon it while reading "Bleacher Report," a blog for Wisconsin Badger fans.  I had to search for the story on the ESPN website and other sports related sites.

The Vikings new uniforms were bigger news than this.

Why is it that an aging, out of work basketball player can announce he's gay, and the whole sports world (and most of the mainstream media) go nuts, but the reigning MVP of the most popular sport on television says he's "not with it" and it barely registers?

Is it because it doesn't fit our media's social engineering profile?

I tried to find information on the percentage of sports athletes in favor / against gay marriage.  Yahoo's search engine pounded out the results, with 99% of available links showing some type of support for gays.  They went something like this:  Pro Athletes Take a Stand Against Homophobia in Sports, Discrimination Against Gay Athletes On Sports Agenda, and A History of Athletes Saying Terrible Things About Gay People."  Do you think I could find anything in support of heterosexual marriage in sports?  Not until page three, and then it was a small blurb about Adrian Peterson's comments.

The results didn't provide supporting evidence for OR against gay marriage.  It just scrambled everything positive about gay issues to the front of the line.  In case you didn't know it before, you do now.  Search engines are as biased toward liberal results as is everything else these days.

If anyone should be crying "bias!" it should be quarterback Tim Tebow, who has been criticized for his religious beliefs by sports media since the day he was drafted by Denver in the first round of the NFL draft.  In his brief football career, Tebow has been criticized for wearing his faith on his sleeve.  Gay journeyman Jason Collins wears his sexual preference on his sleeve and gets calls from President Obama and ESPN.

Tebow doesn't cause problems with other players or get into trouble with the law.  He sets a great example for youngsters and has the type of values that should be welcomed in every locker room.  He boasts 2.2 million followers on Facebook and has been named by Americans as the pro athlete who holds the most influence with the public.  Yet he is out of a job, following his dismissal from the New York Jets.  Who do you think will get a job first -- Tebow or Collins?  And who will get the blame if a team doesn't pick them?

I think you know the answer.

1973's Battle of the Sexes

It's been one gay victory after another this year.  The overwhelming push coming from the Progressive left -- including sport media and big time political donations (sometimes 5 to 1 in favor of gay marriage) -- has states like Minnesota ignoring the voting majority and passing laws to allow a  new definition for marriage.  Money speaks, especially in sports.

To the left, sports like football, basketball and baseball continue to represent a new frontier.  In the past, they have pushed  racial equality (even though most of the NFL is black), equality of the sexes (remember the "Battle of the Sexes" where Bobbie Riggs played Billy Jean King in tennis in 1973), and Title IX  which forced a certain ratio of women's sports for every men's sport in college.

Today, the physical, snot-busting, winner-take-all entertainment of major league sports needs to become less dangerous and more politically correct.  Progressives want to change sports from "a pursuit of victory" to a "guarantee of victory."

At the athletic facilities of West Point Military Academy you will find these words:  "Upon the fields of friendly strife are sown seeds that on other fields, on other days, will bear the fruits of victory."  Never have those words rung more hollow than today.   Liberals have taken away most of the fun that came with childhood recess --  no more dodgeball and please don't keep score because it may hurt someone's feelings -- and now they're trying to change America's most popular sports.

If the left continues to push for social change in sports -- and they will -- football and basketball will never be the same.  Showing athletes as "pioneers in social change" would make me laugh, if it didn't hurt so much.  And calling "for an end to homophobia in sports" paints a picture of intolerance, abuse and vitriol that simply doesn't exist.

Unfortunately -- NFL lawyers, players' union leaders, and the bureaucrats in Washington -- will not give up.  It's what they live for.  With a younger draft of NFL players coming into the league every year, eventually things will change.

As Adrian Peterson's comments show, the left only keeps score if their side is winning.

Nifty Fifty

Turning fifty is a traumatic experience for some people.  Take my wife, for example.

She turned 50 last June and felt a significant change in the universe when her internal clock moved from 49 to 50.  If she was captain of the starship Enterprise, we would have just come out of some worm hole into an alternate time zone where days pass much quicker, and your hair turns gray and wrinkles appear overnight.

Earlier this year, Liz traveled to Mexico
looking for the Fountain of Youth.
She found a beautiful hat instead.

It must be a female condition, because most guys I know look at it as another reason to celebrate.  Throw a party and see how long you can last.  Buy a car, put the top down and see how fast it will go.

I had no such shift in reality.  When I turned 50, I decided to grow a beard to mark my age in pictures that will live on for years to come.  The idea was to grow it for a year , but now I've decided to mark the decade, not just my 50th year.  That way when I hit 60, I'll shave it off and look ten years younger.  I can start my fifties all over again.

Turning a certain age will make you re-evaluate your life and in doing so make you realize that you need another 50 years to do all the things you haven't gotten to yet.  That means you have to stay healthy and find a way to do it without going broke.

Staying healthy is never an easy thing, especially when you get older.  Years ago, Liz and I took an exercise class called Combat Endurance Training.  If it sounds tough, that's because it was.  Created by some marine workout junkies, our instructor had us doing things to our bodies that only masochists would enjoy.  After about three years, we got tired of our internal organs feeling sore all the time, so we quit.

This year, as a result of turning 50, she teamed up with a friend from Trane company to work with a personal trainer.  As part of her training, she has been challenged to try things like eating vegetarian for a week, doing 100 push ups each day for a week, and running a 5K race.  Having successfully conquered the first two challenges, she enlisted my "expertise" in preparing for the Festival Grandad, Three Rivers 5K race, held in La Crosse on May 4th.

After contemplating the personal risk I was taking (Liz has been known to throw shoes at me while walking, I could only imagine what she would do running), I convinced her that we needed to train outside.  Get off the treadmill, leave the "Ease Into 5K" app on the IPad and hit the pavement.  For my running routine, I would get up early and run around the track at Central High School.  Not the most exciting thing to do, but for someone who had never run a quarter mile -- much less 3.1 miles -- I thought it would provide an easy way to gauge her progress, one lap at a time.

Our first obstacle was the weather.  In Wisconsin this year, spring decided to take a holiday, leaving winter in charge of the weather.  We had snow and 20 degrees into the first week of May.  But like all obstacles, you can either take another path, or put on your shoulder pads and knock it down.  Liz reluctantly chose the pads.

On a nice Sunday morning, with two weeks to go until the race, and with temperatures in the low 40's, we put on our Under Armor sweats and our Saucony Ride 2 tennis shoes and headed over to the track.  For our first outing, I thought we would try a mile to see how she did.  After a leisurely lap, Liz was breathing hard, so after another 1/2 lap we decided to walk to the end of lap two.  At that point, the "Ogden" in her must have kicked in because she continued running through the first mile and half way through the second, before we took a breather.  Another quarter lap later, she pushed on until we reached our twelfth and final lap.  I didn't bother keeping track of time, because I didn't think we'd run the entire three miles.

Our second outing involved running the scheduled route from Riverside Park, through downtown and to the La Crosse River path before finishing at the park again.  I felt familiarity with the course would make it easier for Liz on race day.  What I didn't realize was that it would make it harder for her before the race.  La Crosse is laid out with Riverside Park low next to the river, then gradually rising all the way to the bluffs.  So, one of the toughest parts of the race is at the beginning, where you have to climb a persistent hill before leveling off three blocks into downtown.   Liz and hills get along as well as Superman and kryptonite, so my claims to her that she was "doing great" fell on deaf ears.

Once we leveled off, she did better, but not to the degree that other runners seemed to enjoy.  We encountered two groups of young,  quick and graceful runners trotting past us, some even with baby strollers in tow.  They were laughing and talking, and I could feel her disappointment grow as we slowed to a trot barely faster than a walk.  By the time we returned to Riverside Park, over 40 minutes had passed, which was slower than she had hoped.  Despite my best attempts at telling her she had just completed the full 3.1 miles without stopping, she showed no signs of confidence.  Even her favorite breakfast at The Hungry Peddler didn't help.

Our final attempt to train for the race was back at Central's track, where we decided to run  a mile and a half.  My thinking was to conserve her energy (the race was in four days) and to help her overcome the initial "wall" she had encountered earlier.  Success was tempered by her frustration at anything I said, especially the attempts to push her harder.  "I'm not cut out for running," "Don't tell me what I can do!" and "Do you want to sleep on the couch tonight?" slid out of her mouth as easily as the sweat from her face.

I wasn't worried -- because we had a very comfortable couch.

The final piece to her 5K training was to put together a playlist that she could listen to.  I'm sure she was thinking that music would make the pain of running a little easier to take.  The bad news is, nothing makes the pain less.  Your mind may like listening to "The Love Shack" by the B-52s, but your legs still send signals to your brain that scream WHY AM I DOING THIS?  IT SUCKS!

Nonetheless, we spent an evening putting together some of her favorite songs, like "Panama" from Van Halen, "Girls Got Rhythm" by AC/DC, "Dancing With Myself" by Billy Idol  and others from when we used to head to the bars at 10:30 after work.

I just hoped Travis Tritt's "T-R-O-U-B-L-E" wasn't a sign of things to come.


                                             *                              *                          *


Race day arrived with temperatures in the high 30s and a threat of rain.  Ideal conditions if you were a duck on the first day of duck hunting season.  Or an incumbent politician hoping for a low voter turnout.

Once a champion, always a champion.

Arriving the night before was a good friend, Lu Ann Jordan who had participated in the Danskin triathlons a few years earlier.  Liz initially thought it would be fun to run with her, but as the race approached and she continued to struggle with her time, I think she was having second thoughts.

Nonetheless, Saturday morning dawned, and LuAnn, Liz and I prepared ourselves for the race.  Weather called for rain, so we didn't know what to expect.  And the wind was chilling whatever moisture was in the air.

Finally, it was time to line up. As we reluctantly left the  protective cocoon of the warming tent and shuffled to the starting gate, my thoughts wandered to Monroe, Wisconsin 28 years earlier.

I was remembering a day I ran with Liz's dad back when I was just starting to date her.  It was a hot and windy day, and Don was out to prove to his future 26-year old son-in-law that he could run further and faster.  He couldn't have been much over 50, but he ran like he was 35.  Like all things that he did,  Don couldn't settle for second place.  Before the hour-long run was over, I was bent over, sucking for air and he was running up the stairs to his house, well ahead of me.

While Liz didn't share the same competitive spirit that her dad had, she was still his daughter, and I was confident that she would not back down from the challenge.

With the start, everyone rushed from the gate and headed around Riverside Park.  LuAnn quickly jumped ahead and increased her speed.  I could sense the panic in Liz as she watched men, women and children run past us, almost effortlessly.  I had tried to warn her that some runners make the mistake of running too hard at the beginning of the race, then suffer toward the end.  Adding to the risk was Liz's choice of music now pounding in her ear buds -- I could literally hear Nickleback's "Burn It To The Ground," coursing through her body.

We continued up the hill on State Street, then turned by my office onto 6th, as more and more people streamed past.  As we continued through the intersection I could hear her say, "I've got to stop..."  But after a few quick jumps, she pushed on and we crossed the first mile marker at a little over twelve minutes.  As is often the case, your mind shuts down and your legs carry you through the next mile. Then we hit the La Crosse River trail for the final mile of the race.  With sweat running from her face, Liz slowed, trying to catch her breath.  With the chords of "Girls Gone Wild" on her IPod, she was off again straining to keep up with the distant crowd that was now turning past the Grandstay Residential Suites on Front Street.

As wonderful as the thought of finishing a race is to your tired body, the final stretch leading up to that point can be shear agony.  I could tell the stretch of Front Street that leads to Riverside Park was becoming unbearable for Liz.  I tried telling her she was almost done, but I don't think I was registering on her radar anymore.  All she could think about was the painful breathing and tired legs.

But in true fashion for anyone facing the reality of turning 50, she somehow found the extra energy that screamed, I'M NOT QUITTING NOW!  Putting aside the pain, she rounded the final bend and focused on the finish line.  As we crossed that line, approximately 6,680 strides later, the race clock above us indicated 38 minutes and 28 seconds.

By my calculation, it was an improvement of over two minutes from only a week earlier.  Not bad for someone who used to say she couldn't run.

Now if I can just get her to climb that hill on Hwy 33.

A Real Game Changer?

It used to be that the sports page of the La Crosse Tribune discussed sports.

Not anymore.  In this age of political correctness, the sports page has less to do with actual scores than settling a score.

Take the Jason Collins announcement on Monday.  Based on the amount of coverage -- and the near unanimous praise -- given to it by major network news anchors, ESPN, sports talk radio and magazines like  Sports Illustrated, you'd figure we've just seen the second coming of Jackie Robinson.  Instead, all we have is a black basketball player who announced he is gay.  The media is claiming this is big because he is the first openly gay, active athlete in a major American team sport  to come out.  I'm sorry, but he is an aging, 34-year old basketball player (currently without a team) who is approaching the end of his career, averaging 1 point, 1.6 rebounds and .02 assists per game.  A good guy, I'm sure.  But Kevin Durant or Michael Jordan he's not.  Never has been and never will be.

Jason Collins

So it is safe to say that it isn't his game that people are talking about.  It's his activities off the court that are earning such accolades.  First off, why do I -- or anyone else -- want to hear about his sexual preferences in bed?    Because that's basically what he's saying.  It has nothing to do with basketball.  Or being black.  Or being 7 feet tall.  It's who he prefers to have sex with.

And for this he is being called  "a true pioneer," and his announcement a "historic decision" by CNN's Anderson Cooper.  Bill Clinton said, "I am proud to call (him) a friend."  I bet!  Dwayne Wade of the Miami Heat tweeted, "Jason Collins showed a lot of courage today and I respect him for taking a stand and choosing to live his truth."  Kobe Bryant gushed, "Proud of (Jason).  Don't suffocate who you are because of the ignorance of others."

I ask again:  what does this have to do with sports?

All it has to do with is spreading the political correctness of the leftist media who demand we show love for all things gay.  It's an orgasmic smorgasbord of gay marriage,  gay characters on prime time television, gay interior designers and gay politicians.  All being supported by the press/ media, our public education system and civil rights activists.  If you disagree, you are classified as simple, ignorant and capable of spewing bigotry and hate.

Did someone decide in the middle of the night that 2013 was going to be the year of being gay?   I feel like every day, my traditional way of life is being threatened by the left.

My son (and most high school / college students) would say gays just want to be treated equally.  They want the same rights as heterosexuals.  I'm sorry, but being gay isn't a right.  Being treated fairly while being black, female or disabled is a right.  You can't change the fact that you're black or female (although Michael Jackson and Chaz Bono tried).  That's why I support their rights to be treated the same as someone who is white or male.  But you can chose if you're going to have sex or not.

And stop shoving it in my face.  I'll let you lead your life the way you want until you demand I approve of it.

I honestly don't care what most people do in bed.  I'm probably one of the few who didn't care about President Clinton's sex life.  People like Clinton and Kennedy got around, but why should I care?  I remember how the media refused to break the Monica Lewinsky story because they thought it was no body's business what Clinton did.  Funny how 18 years later, the same people can't wait to tell us about Jason Collin's adventures in bed.

As for Jason Collins' announcement, I can't believe the backlash being written about the few who have spoken out against his "courageous" lifestyle.  On Foxsports.com, columnist Jen Floyd Engel completely misses the boat by bashing Christians (who in her opinion) are spewing a gospel of hate.

She writes:   Jason's admission unleashed a torrent of Biblically-annotated vile so ugly, so hateful from the good "Christians" of the internet that I have to believe Jesus was somewhere saying "Keep my name out of your mouth."  She continued:  For every (loving) President Obama and Kobe Bryant tweet, there was an army of judgmental, homophobic, angry Christians condemning Collins to hell in Jesus' name on Twitter, in columns, on TV and radio.

The sad reality is this bellowing minority has drowned out the silent majority of Bible-believing Christians who take very seriously Jesus' call to "love one another as I have loved you' (John 13:34).  This is just the beginning.  Much of what Jesus says in the Bible translates to "coach your own team" in the sports version.  John 8:7 is especially instructive as Jesus says, "Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone."

I do not pretend to have all the answers.  But what I know for sure is people who get their salvation from the New testament would be wise to get their doctrine from the old.  And when in doubt, ask yourself, what did Jesus say?  What days like Monday do are turn people away from Christianity, and make them view good Christians as phony.  It is not un-Christian to admire Collins.

So Engel  asks, "What did Jesus say?"  Lets check.

In Romans 1:24-27, Jesus says, "Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another.  Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones.  In the same way, the men also abandoned natural relations with women...  Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error."

In Leviticus 18:22 Jesus says, "Do not have sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman; that is detestable."  In chapter 20:13, he says, "If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them."

Finally in 1 Corinthians 6:9, he says, "Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?  Do not be deceived:  neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, not men who practice homosexuality."

Sounds pretty clear to me.  Jesus did not favor homosexuality and no amount of double talk by this journalist or Christians who want to reward people like Jason Collins with praise on high, is going to change it.

A pastor friend of mine explains it this way: "Jesus said go and sin no more.  He may love the sinner, but he doesn't love the sin."  This fact seems to escape those who think Jesus was tolerant of the sin being committed by the prostitute, or the envy by Adam and Eve, or the pride of the Pharisees in the temple.  "Jesus would never endorse a sin," my friend said.  His sermon this week asks "what is happening to our world?"

What is happening is traditional Christians who believe in the Bible are being made to look like hypocrites who don't follow Jesus' message of forgiveness and understanding.

Jason Whitlock, racist journalist

Another journalist (believe me when I say it hurts to call him that) who celebrated Jason Collins announcement was Jason Whitlock, a columnist for Fox.

He said,  "Tolerance will be met with intolerance, fairness will be mitigated by unfairness, intellectual evolution will be thwarted by dogma.  Soon there will be a last call for alcohol at the Jason Collins party, the kind words will quit pouring in and the forces of regression will pick apart his exquisitely crafted story, question his motives and loudly protest that the gay man's seat at the table of equality will lead to the ruin of this great nation."

So he is saying that coming out gay leads to equality for Jason Collins.  And that the Bible and those who believe it represent intolerance, unfairness and religious dogma.  Does everything with these leftists have to be about equality? I can't image going through my day completely consumed by such a feeling of unfairness.  Someone needs to get Jason Whitlock a new box of crayons!  Preferably with colors other than black.

Jason was just getting started.  He continues, "My friend and one of the best people I know, ESPN NBA reporter Chris Broussard, claimed that Collins and all gay people are in "open rebellion" of God's will.  CBS radio host and TV personality, Tim Brando made it perfectly clear that he doesn't regard Collins as any kind of hero.  Brando also said, "Simply being a Christian, white male over 50 that's raised a family means nothing in today's culture."

Well Tim, it does mean you're more likely to get a loan from a bank, less likely to be profiled by the police, more likely to get a six-figure job, and more likely to be afforded every privilege and benefit of the doubt this country has to offer.

Huh?  Is that why I feel so loved by members of the media?  And why today's television sitcoms embrace my traditional way of life?  What planet do these reporters live on?  Since 2008, racial relations have never been worse.  During the last two years, gay and lesbian relationships have never been more at odds with heterosexual relationships.  I've heard "intolerant" so many times lately, that I'm thinking of having it tattooed onto my forehead to save them the trouble of repeating it.

And Jason, don't get me started on why there are so few white players in professional basketball.  If you want to talk about equality, let's get a few more slow, white guys who can't jump.  According to you, that shouldn't be held against them any more than Jason Collin's sexual preferences.

Whitlock concludes by saying, "Gay youths need prominent role models in all walks of life, most especially in sports.  As a kid, I was the typical insensitive, unenlightened jock bully.  It's unfair.  Kids don't chose to be gay.  We need to recognize and respect the full scope of humanity.  Jason Collins can help us do that.  I fully expect -- and quite frankly demand (the commissioner) use his power to ensure that Jason Collins has a job in the NBA for 82 games next year.  This is a chance for basketball to be as important as baseball in 1947."  Seriously?

The significance of Jason Collins coming out party is not the fact that he is gay.  To reporters like Whitlock and Engel, his coming out is just another political initiative that fits their liberal mold of a contemporary America.  No morals, acceptance of low standards and the destruction of traditional values.

Liberals are tearing down our families, our military and now our sports page.  What a shame the majority of people listening and reading their editorials don't know it.