We need to work on our narrow minds

Another week has come and gone and once again the crazies on the right have decided it was national “Use Barack Obama as a Pinata Week.”

This week’s highlights of lunacy involved, among other things, whether the president was wrong to allow a marine to shield him with an umbrella and whether the president used HAARP to create the EF 5 Tornado that wiped out Moore, Okla. in order to distract the nation from Benghazi-gate, IRS-gate and Phone Records-gate.

But today I’m going to focus on something that truly set me off the other day. An email. I try not to pay attention to forwarded emails. They tend to be stupid. And usually divorced from reality. But I made the mistake of paying attention to one the other day calling into question President Obama’s congratulations of NBA player Jason Collins.

The president took the time to call the basketball player in late April, shortly after Collins publicly announced he was gay. President Obama wanted to "express his support" and tell Collins that "he was impressed by his courage," according to a White House official.

This angered some on the right, allegedly because the president doesn’t personally call the families of those who have died in war — in addition to the fact that there’s nothing brave about being gay … so they say. The use of the term “bravery” should be “reserved for heroes in combat (and such) who have made much bolder decisions under the risk of injury and/or death in the service of others.”

I would certainly occur that being gay — in and of itself — requires no more bravery than my being white. Or male.

But being publicly gay does require a certain degree of courage, as made evident by the comments made by ESPN’s Chris Broussard who quickly pointed out that Collins is — in his opinion — a sinner. While Broussard’s comments weren’t vitriolic or mean, they do illustrate a certain attitude that is still prevalent among many people: Gay = bad.

Some take it much much further, going so far as to say that the evils of homosexuality are responsible for the degradation of society. One particular loon said that the Tornado in Oklahoma was indirectly due to Collins.

Fred Phelps Jr., son of Westboro Baptist Church minister Fred Phelps, tweeted the following using the moniker @wbcfredjr: “OK Thunder's Durant flips God by praising fag Collins. God smashes OK. You do the math. #GodH8sFags #FagsDoomNations #FearGod #GodH8sU”

So in his estimation God took dozens of lives in Oklahoma because someone didn’t hate homosexuality enough. This is the “God” they believe in.

I’m not sure which theory sounds more insane: That President Obama decimated Oklahoma to distract us from the non-controversies that the GOP is trying to stir (as discussed in last week’s column) or that God decimated Oklahoma because he was mad that someone’s gay.

My point — albeit rather roundabout — is that homosexuality still carries a stigma with many people in society. And as such, “coming out” certainly does require a degree of bravery — especially in a high profile job like professional basketball player.

You don't have to carry a gun or run into a burning building to brave. Anyone can be a hero. Even a gay basketball player.

Until we learn that the most simple among us hold the same importance in the world as “the few” — until we abolish the idea of some live being more valuable than others, how can we call ourselves enlightened?

After all, it is the meek who are destined to inherit the earth.

Scott Leffler hates tornadoes, hypocrisy and stupidity. But has only love for the meek. Follow him on twitter @scottleffler.

Rooting against America is un-American

Politicians annoy me. Democrats. Republicans. Even my fellow Libertarians. People’s motives never seem to be for the betterment of humanity and always for the betterment of their kind.

This is illustrated perfectly in the current round of scandalgates that are circling the halls of Congress. Between Benghazi, the Associated Press phone records seizure and the IRS overwhelming interest in tea party activists, Republicans are having a field day at Democrats’ — and particularly President Barack Obama’s — expense.

From what I’ve seen from these scandals so far, there isn’t much to any one of them. But piled on as a perfect trifecta in Thursday’s news, it sure seems as though the president will have a hard time surviving it. If Republicans weren’t already trumping up the word “impeachment” before, they’re surely testing it out now.

The worst part of this is that Republicans — by and large — couldn’t actually care less about what happened in Libya (that’s where Benghazi is, although I saw a statistic the other day that says that while 41 percent of registered Republicans believe that saga to be the biggest scandal in American history, 39 percent of those who believed so didn’t know where Benghazi is).

I also can’t imagine they feel bad for the Associated Press reporters who had their phone records snagged by the Department of Justice. I tend to view the GOP as skipping over the 1st Amendment because it gets in the way of their favorite one.

Now the IRS thing, I’ll give them credit for that. That story is just ridiculous. We all know that Republicans hate the IRS already anyway. And that bit of absurdity went after their people. So I’m sure they are genuinely upset about it.

But aside from the IRS shenanigans, I can’t help but feel that the GOP’s primary interest in these tawdry affairs is the amount of damage that it could potentially do to the president. Basically I believe that they’re much less interested in either correcting or preventing wrongdoings than they are in pinning any wrongdoings on President Obama.

What I want to know is: Why do Republicans hate America?

This is the same question that Republicans asked whenever Democrats questioned anything George W. Bush did. It was a stupid question then and I realize that it’s a stupid question now. I ask it facetiously.

Except …

It does genuinely seem un-American to me to root against President Obama, his policies, prosperity and even peace — all in hopes of bringing down his presidency. Some people are actually rooting for chaos because they think it will make Obama look bad.

Yes. It was equally un-American for Democrats to root against President Bush. But we’re dealing with the here and now. And here and now the GOP is willing to sacrifice anything just to get at Obama.

So I guess my real question is: If you’re willing to root against America — in the name of America — how can America possibly win?

Scott Leffler is a real American. He fights for the rights of every man. He also used to watch wrestling as a child. Follow him on twitter @scottleffler.